Hopes bypass action will follow Labor election victory

By Darren Linton

May 24, 2022

Removing traffic: The election of a Labor Federal Government provides new hope that the stalemate over the Shepparton Bypass can be broken. Photo by Darren Linton

The election of the Albanese Government will reinvigorate the campaign to get the Goulburn Valley Hwy Shepparton Bypass funded and built.

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Member for Ballarat Catherine King is expected to be sworn in as Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister after having served as the shadow minister since 2019.

Ms King has previously served as a parliamentary secretary for infrastructure and transport in the Gillard Government and Regional Australia Minister in the Rudd Government.

It was under the Gillard Government that Labor established Regional Development Australia committees nationally to give regional communities a greater say in establishing funding priorities.

Ms King has publicly expressed her commitment to RDA committees, which she argued were sidelined by the Morrison Government.

Building the Shepparton Bypass is a priority project under the Goulburn sub-region plan of the Hume RDA.

“The election does provide a fresh opportunity to make the case,” Shepparton Bypass Action Committee chair Peter Johnson said.

“We wrote to Catherine King before the election and will be in immediate contact once she is sworn in.”

Mr Johnson said the committee would also be contacting new Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell and Victorian Transport Minister Jacinta Allan urging a fresh look at the project.

Stage one of the Shepparton Bypass is the top priority for Greater Shepparton City Council.

It includes a 10km section of road from the Midland Hwy, Mooroopna, to Wanganui Rd, Shepparton North, providing a second river crossing between Shepparton and Mooroopna.

The Victorian Government and former federal infrastructure minister Barnaby Joyce had been in a stalemate over progressing the bypass.

While the Coalition Government had allocated $211 million to the bypass, it fell well short of the $1.2 billion Mr Joyce claimed was the overall cost in the Victorian Government’s business case.

Mr Johnson said he hoped the election of a Labor Federal Government would take the political heat out of the discussions.

“It will remove the political stalemate that had bogged down progress on the bypass over the past 18 months,” he said.

The ALP committed to “put the focus back on nation-building infrastructure using the Infrastructure Australia model” as part of its regional policy and promised a more equitable distribution of regional funding.