While the Federal Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips has reiterated her calls to bring forward funding for priority Princes Highway projects such as the Milton-Ulladulla Bypass and the Jervis Bay Road intersection there is still no commitment of any Federal Funds south of Batemans Bay to the Victoria.
The electorate of Gilmore finishes at Tuross Head to then become the Federal Labor electorate of Eden Monaro held by Dr Mike Kelly.
While the Prime Minister has announced that funding for infrastructure projects would be brought forward to help stimulate the economy, so far very little detail has been released on the NSW highway projects to be included.
Federal member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips said of the announcement “For months, I have been calling on the Morrison Government to bring forward the funding for the Princes Highway to help stimulate the economy, create jobs and most importantly save lives.”
“We know where the priority areas are and while I am pleased the Prime Minister has finally listened to our calls to fix it faster, I am disappointed he has not yet released more detail on exactly what projects will be brought forward.”
“I want to make sure that the local projects our Gilmore community has been waiting on for years finally receive much-needed funding,” Mrs Phillips said.
During the recent Federal election, the Liberal-National Government committed $500 million towards the Princes Highway, including $400 million for the Milton-Ulladulla Bypass. But only $50 million has been allocated in the Budget and the Gilmore MP has been lobbying to have the additional funds brought forward.
The Gilmore MP said "With the Christmas holiday period fast approaching, the community deserves to have a real funding commitment from this government to fix the hot spots along the Princes Highway. I want to see more investment in infrastructure and will examine the package as more detail is released."
“Like many people in our community, I am eagerly awaiting the details of the announcement. Let’s hope the government will finally fix it faster,” Fiona Phillips said.
Unfortunately in the Eden Monaro electorate there has been deafening silence around any Federal push to commit funds for the South East.
The last we heard from the Member for Eden Monaro was in August 2018 when he stated “It has been disappointing that the NSW state government has failed to produce a long-term plan for the Princes Highway,” adding “We need serious investment to improve the significant choke nodes such as the Narooma bridge and the Brogo pass that inhibit road freight and tourism traffic to and from the Port of Eden and surrounds.”
Since then the Federal government's Princes Highway Corridor Strategy has been released offering little in the way of any priorities for the Princes Highway from Bodalla to the border in the Eden Monaro electorate. Added to this is the silence for the Princes Highway south of Batemans Bay that is a dead zone for NSW State Government works.
While it can be argued that the substantive works in the north with bypasses will bring economic stimulus to the region the fact remains that the section of the Princes Highway in the south remains narrow, deadly and underfunded.
