BOTH parties have their variations of dedicated regional funds to appeal to those outside Melbourne. With the funding amounts are the same — $500 million — the bigger question is: which party has the long-term vision to keep rural and regional Victoria growing?

LABOR

A growth fund by any other name... is a regional development fund. Labor has vowed to scrap the Coalition’s growth fund, and reinstate its development fund — but the differences are not particularly apparent.

Labor’s $500 million regional investment includes: a $250 million Regional Cities Victoria infrastructure fund and $50 million aimed at encouraging families to move to regional Victoria.

Also included is the $200 million regional jobs fund, previously announced, and includes establishing eight regional business centres. 

It is not known if the North East will receive one, but given two of the 10 major regional cities are in our region, one would presume it is a good bet.

Labor has also pledged to cap council rates at CPI to prevent exorbitant rate rises, and there’s a host of small-scale sweeteners to encourage the next generation of farmers to stay on the land.

COALITION

There is still $500 million left of the Coalition’s $1 billion regional growth fund for use exclusively in the state’s rural and regional areas. In the past four years, this fund was used to fund a wide range of community, infrastructure and job-creating projects.

Of this, $100 million will be set aside for the exclusive use of the 10 major regional cities named by Regional Cities Victoria — including Wodonga and Wangaratta — for projects like CBD renewal. That’s $10 million per city.

THE growing ice epidemic has been a key focus for both parties, with each promising tough new penalities for trafficking and manufacture of the drug.

LABOR

Labor has also pledged $15 million to new drug and booze buses, $500,000 for community grassroots action groups across regional Victoria, and will investigate the ice crisis and how communities are tackling it — though it has already been established the Hume region is one of the biggest ice trouble spots in the state.

They will also establish a Royal Commission into family violence and have pledged $22 million to family violence services.

For country police, there is also the addition of upgrading the analogue radio network to digital.

COALITION

Penalties for ice trafficking will be up to 25 years as the Coalition continues rolling out its own plans to tackle the drug, having already hosted a series of forums statewide to gather information.

There will be $150 million spent on family violence initiatives, including getting perpetrators to wear GPS tracking devices.

There is also a promise of a $620 million Victims of Crime crisis support fund, giving victims access to pastoral carers.

Among the more controversial measures are giving police more power to search homes when investigating crimes, and releasing the criminal records of youth offenders if they are jailed as adults.

DESPITE some improvements, Border and North East rail users are still frustrated with the service on the Albury line. The Coalition has offered some sweeteners while Labor has focused its regional interests on roads.

LABOR

SO far, Labor’s plans for road and rail have been largely city-centric or focused on marginal seats.

The North East will directly receive a share of the $1 billion promised to upgrade regional and rural roads and level crossings; Labor’s also pledged to introduce legislation to guarantee a proportion of roads funding to these areas in perpetuity.

There’s been little on the regional rail front, beyond the promise of 20 new V/Line carriages. But no specifics have been provided on what lines or what types these will be.

As far as marginal seats go, $2 million has been pledged to give Bendigo its own commuter train service, and a $25 million makeover for Ballarat train station.

They say they will rip up the contracts for the East-West Link, in favour of doubling the size of the city loop with the Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel (Cost: $9-11 billion, with $300 million pledged in its first budget); add extra lanes to the West Gate Freeway (Cost: $400-500 million); and extra lanes to the Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne Airport (Cost: $250 million).

There’s also $50-60 billion to remove 50 of the worst level crossings in Melbourne.

Oh, and free public transport in the CBD on weekends.

COALITION

Roads Minister Terry Mulder this week announced a $178.1 million regional rail plan, rolling out in 2016. 

For the Albury line, this means an extra daily service, the conversion of another N-class loco and carriage set for its exclusive use on the North East’s standard gauge line, and a bus service connecting Wodonga station to town.

Mulder and Benambra MP Bill Tilley have been spruiking the fact “only” seven speed restrictions remain on the line, and its 93 per cent punctuality — though that is with 15 extra minutes built into the timetable.

The Coalition has also pledged to order 24 more VLocity carriages — which can’t be used on the North East line — $5.3 million for Ballarat train station, and 40 extra trips from Ballarat weekly.

They too will spend $250 million upgrading the Tullamarine Freeway to the airport, remove 40 level crossings in Melbourne, and upgrade regional freeways like the Princes and Calder.

And of course, don’t forget the East West Link.

WITH state unemployment hovering at 6.8 per cent for four months now — the highest since 2001 — jobs are shaping up to be a key issue. In the North East the rate is slightly lower at 5.2 per cent, but youth unemployment is still a big problem at about 15 per cent. Figures show Victorian employment has increased by 22,000 annually in recent years, making both parties’ job-creation targets ambitious.

LABOR

LABOR wants to create 100,000 new jobs in four years, including more than 10,000 in construction.

A dedicated $200 million regional jobs fund will be made available for “job-creating projects” in regional Victoria.

The Back To Work Act will set up a $100 million fund for payroll tax relief of up to $1000 to companies hiring unemployed youth, the long-term unemployed and retrenched workers into full-time work. Labor says this will directly help create 100,000 jobs — but the vacancies need to exist, or be found, in the first place.

An independent jobs and investment panel will give advice on how to spend $500 million in that arena, while a $200 million future industries fund will give grants in six “high-growth” sectors like renewable energy, food and fibre, and pharmaceuticals.

And $32 million has been promised to keep the Local Learning Employment Network alive, a program the Coalition had cut funding for.

COALITION

The Coalition is doubling Labor’s bid, wanting to create 200,000 jobs in five years with a $33 billion package. But that includes $27 billion in promised infrastructure projects. They say these projects will create jobs right through from design to construction, while local content targets will keep jobs in the state.

Some $5.2 billion will be spent in training, $30 million for a manufacturing, innovation and technology fund and $21.9 million for a manufacturing and trades centre in Frankston.

There’s also a $75 million youth employment plan, offering $2000 vouchers to employers to hire young people aged 15 to 24 and payroll tax exemption for new employees for 12 months.

The Coalition has claimed that since it took office, 90,600 people are in work — but a Fairfax Media fact-check showed the state’s working population grew by 200,000, meaning employment actually grew by less than half.

THE North East’s biggest health service, Albury Wodonga Health, is in need of an upgrade for Albury hospital’s emergency department, but neither party has made any offers to help, with Health Minister David David saying it’s “not a priority”.

LABOR

Labor will refer the ongoing paramedic pay dispute to the Fair Work Commission, and allow it to decide how much they should be paid, and will guarantee nurse-patient ratios in law.

There’s major building works in store right across Melbourne and the marginals, including a new emergency ward and helipad at Monash Children’s Centre.

Childcare centres will be able to turn away unvaccinated children, and private midwives will be able to work in public hospitals to ease pressure on maternity wards.

GPs will also be sent into 100 disadvantaged schools in the state to help identify health problems in young people at risk of slipping through the gaps.

And it will implement a 10-year mental health plan, including $1 million a year for the National Centre for Farmer Health. It’s unclear however exactly how much — or little — Labor plans to spend on mental health overall.

COALITION

Bright Hospital has so far been the big winner for the North East, awarded a long-sought redevelopment out of the $15 billion health funding package.

Again, many of the specific projects out of this are in Melbourne or key marginals, like a cardiac hospital in Clayton or an $83 million expansion and cardiac lab for Ballarat hospital — where work has in fact already begun on a $46 million expansion.

A $77.5 million cancer research and prevention package has also been announced.

The Coalition’s last offer to paramedics included a $3000 sign-on bonus and a 6 per cent pay increase in 2014, with further increases in 2015 and 2016.