Infrastructure spending announcements can be expected in this year’s federal budget, with billions already handed out by the Federal Government across the country.
The largest – the $5b Melbourne Airport Rail Link – will connect the airport to the city while in Brisbane the Federal government has handed out $1b for upgrades to the M1 Motorway.
Unpack the Federal Budget with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann at the popular CCI Budget Breakfast on May 14.
WA is tipped to receive funding for a new major road project in Perth’s south with a Federal Liberal MP tipping the long-awaited Tonkin Highway extension could get a funding commitment next month.
Federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie told a recent function in Byford he was “confident” that a southern extension of Tonkin Highway would be funded in the Turnbull Government’s upcoming Federal budget on May 8.
Hastie has spent two years campaigning for the project.
The last southern extension of the highway was completed in 2005, terminating at Thomas Road.
Hastie says the population of Serpentine Jarrahdale shire had more than doubled since then, with the increased number or road users turning the Tonkin Highway-Thomas Road intersection into a “severe bottleneck”, forcing heavy haulage trucks onto local roads.
An extension of Tonkin Highway south to Lakes Road should be prioritised to ease congestion on smaller roads and improve heavy haulage access, he says.
“The Tonkin Highway’s extension is vital for the long-term future of Serpentine and Jarrahdale and indeed the whole Peel region,” he told Federal Parliament.
With public infrastructure spending expected to remain strong this year, Federal Labor is also stepping up funding promises ahead of the May budget.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten recently pledged that a Federal Labor government would spend $241 million to extend the Armadale rail line to Byford.
This is in addition to a series of pledges elsewhere in Perth, including $83 million to progress development of a new Midland Station and extension of the Midland train line to Bellevue, creating up to 280 local jobs.
Shorten also promised Federal Labor would spend $700 million to build the Morley-Ellenbrook line, $64 million extending Stephenson Avenue in Innaloo, and $108 million stretching the Mitchell Freeway to Romeo Road in Alkimos.
