CORANGAMITE federal member Sarah Henderson has roundly rejected a report that has criticised the amount of money invested into the Princes Highway between Geelong and Colac.
\nLast week, The Grattan Institute released the \u201cRoads to Riches: better transport spending\u201d report, which examined government spending on transport infrastructure over the past decade.
\nIt states \u201ctoo often, politics comes ahead of the public interest\u201d and \u201ctoo much has been spent on highways that are not especially important to the economy, but are popular with local voters\u201d.
\nThe 89-kilometre stretch of road between Geelong and Colac is used as a case study, noting $438 million had been spent on the road between 2005\/06 and 2014\/15, and the $185.5 million to ratio of an \u201cexceptionally low\u201d 0.08:1 \u2013 \u201cwell short community\u201d. However, Ms Henderson said the report was \u201cbiased and city-centric\u201d and the Grattan Institute \u201chas got it badly wrong\u201d.
\n\u201cAs the Liberal candidate, I am incredibly proud to have fought so hard to deliver the funding to duplicate this road.
\n\u201cPrinces Highway West is an incredibly important transport link which connects Melbourne, Geelong, Warrnambool and Portland to South Australia.
\n\u201cThe highway is used by over 350,000 people each year, which provides access to major tourist attractions such as the Great Ocean Road.\u201d
\nShe said duplicating the Princes Highway between Geelong and Colac was \u201cvital infrastructure\u201d for the region.
\n\u201cThis road is a major alternate route to the Great Ocean Road, which attracts 2.5 million visitors each year, and the centrepiece of our regional $2.1 billion tourism industry which supports 10,000 local jobs.
\n\u201cIt is amazing that the Grattan Institute did not mention the importance of the duplicated road to one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CORANGAMITE federal member Sarah Henderson has roundly rejected a report that has criticised the amount of money invested into the Princes Highway between Geelong and Colac. Last week, The Grattan Institute released the \u201cRoads to Riches: better transport spending\u201d report, which examined government spending on transport infrastructure over the past decade. It states \u201ctoo often, […]<\/p>\n