WAITING GAME: State election commitments not yet fully funded in budget

THE state budget has finally been handed down, but some of the region’s residents will have to wait longer for Labor’s election promises to be fully realised.

Labor has been touting several of its funding commitments in the 2019-20 budget since its release on Monday, including $9.1 million towards improving Bellbrae Primary School, duplicating the railway line between Waurn Ponds and South Geelong, and upgrades to Barwon Heads Road.

However, most of the funding for those three projects will be delivered after the coming financial year.

In the case of Bellbrae Primary School, only $910,000 of the $9.1 million will be spent in 2019-20, with the upgrades not expected to be complete until the fourth quarter of 2021-22.

The $318 million commitment to Barwon Heads Road has only $400,000 slated to be spent in the next financial year, with a completion date “to be confirmed”, and the Waurn Ponds track duplication (which is mostly funded by the federal government) has only $2 million of planning and development work to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019-20.

South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman said the budget “delivered the money that we committed to the region” but defended the timing of the spending, saying “you’ve got to do the detailed planning work before you do the construction”.