Will Victoria kiss $3 billion goodbye?

Vote for Victorian Labor and you can kiss goodbye to $3bn, says Tony Abbott

• THE AUSTRALIAN
• NOVEMBER 26, 2014 12:00AM

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John Ferguson

Victorian Political Editor
Melbourne
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Daniel Andrews with his wife Katherine at St Vincents Hospital. Picture: Jay Town Source: News Corp Australia
TONY Abbott has killed off any chance of Victoria receiving the $3 billion in federal funding committed to the nation’s biggest urban road and tunnel project if Labor is elected to power at the weekend.
The Prime Minister has warned Labor in writing that if it dumps the project it will miss out on the funds, opening the way for other states and territories to share in a multi-billion-dollar windfall.
Labor leader Daniel Andrews has campaigned on opposing the $7bn first stage of the East West Link road and tunnel project, claiming he can convince Mr Abbott to allocate the funds elsewhere.
But in an election-eve open letter obtained by The Australian, Mr Abbott has warned political leaders in Victoria that the $3bn will only be delivered if the road goes ahead.
This means that if Labor is elected it will have to return $1.5bn already advanced and it will have to extract $1.5bn from the budget forward estimates,’’ Mr Abbott writes.
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“I want to make it absolutely clear to the people of Victoria that the $3bn the commonwealth government has committed to this project is for one purpose and one purpose only — and that is to build East West Link.
“Let me repeat: the $3bn the commonwealth government has committed for the East West Link is only available to build the East West Link.”