There is enough fat in Labor’s budget to fund the rebuilding of flood-affected Australia without resorting to slashing regional spending and raising taxes on Australians Barnaby Joyce and Bob Baldwin said today.

Julia Gillard announced today cuts of almost 50 per cent to the Priority Regional Infrastructure Fund and further cuts to the Building Better Regional Cities Program. In total $450 million will be cut from regional programs. The $800 million Priority Regional Infrastructure Fund was a key concession the Labor party made to the rural independents to try and win the support of Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott.

 “When Julia Gillard formed government, she promised ‘to deliver for regional Australia.’ But in the six months since the election, the Gillard Labor Government has let regional Australia down.

“Labor has released a plan to cut water from regional towns that has slashed house prices across the Murray-Darling Basin and now Labor are slashing the very spending they announced to win the support of regional Australia.

“Why are we cutting essential infrastructure from regional Australia, when Labor persists on borrowing $27 billion to build a second telephone network?”

“When my family looks to tighten its belt, we always cut back on the things that matter the least to us. Julia Gillard’s resort to regional spending cuts in their $350 billion budget shows the priority that the Labor party put on regional Australia,” Senator Joyce said.

The Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Bob Baldwin, said the cuts showed the Gillard Labor Government never seriously intended to meet their commitments to regional Australia.

“Labor’s decision to almost halve the funding available in the Priority Regional Infrastructure Fund shows Julia Gillard’s commitments to regional Australia were nothing more than verbal varnish to deliver her another term in government.

“If Julia Gillard was serious about rebuilding regional Australia, why would she cut funding from a regional infrastructure fund?

“The Gillard Government will spend in excess of $1.4 trillion dollars over the forward estimates and the best saving they can come up with is to cut $350 million from regional infrastructure funding?

“This cut to regional infrastructure funding proves the Gillard Government thinks regional infrastructure is low hanging fruit in their massive spending tree,” Mr Baldwin said.