THE Albury-Wodonga regional deal has the best chance of success with Liberal Party MPs in Farrer and Indi after the May 18 federal election, according to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Morrison put the regional deal proposal on the radar when he came to Albury soon after becoming Prime Minister last year and his government has committed $3.2 million towards initial planning work for the concept which has delivered millions of dollars in other centres such as Townsville and Launceston.
He returned to Albury-Wodonga less than a fortnight before the election to shore up support for Farrer Liberal parliamentary colleague Sussan Ley and the party's candidate in Indi, Steve Martin.
Both are engaged in torrid campaigns involving high profile, first time independents, Kevin Mack and Helen Haines.
"Deals are what we put in them," Mr Morrison said.
"There needs to be some more concrete suggestions and identification of priorities for that deal, but that hasn't been as forthcoming up to this point.
"We were obviously working with the previous member and it was all a bit hazy, but what Sussan and Steve will bring is a lot more concrete ideas of what needs to go into that.
"I'm keen to get on with it because I've seen how effective they are in places like Townsville and Launceston.
"It is a really good mixture of investments and can be in the education space, the infrastructure space, the arts and culture space, the job creation space.
"You put all those things together and make them link up rather than being a set of random unconnected commitments."
Mr Morrison said he was confident Ms Ley and Mr Martin could overcome the strong challenges being thrown down by independents.
"Independents will sympathise with every single grievance, but they are never really in a position to make those solutions possible," he said.
"That is why I think the Liberals in both seats present that opportunity to get a really strong focus on what is happening."
In the latest Sportsbet market, Mr Mack ($1.80) is a slight favourite ahead of Ms Ley ($1.85) with tab.com.au also having the independent a $1.70 favourite ahead of Ms Ley at $2.05.
Mr Mack said the PM visit was evidence independents were having an impact.
"If there was ever an indication of the Coalition's concern at potentially losing both Indi and Farrer, then it is the Prime Minister's visit," he said.
"If I am elected, I think much, much more will happen for Albury and Farrer.
"People aren't fools, and this last-ditch effort of promises galore glosses over the woeful track record of the government delivering for Farrer's hard-working people."
Mr Mack is appearing in a video with 15 other independent candidates including Kerryn Phelps, Rebekha Sharkie, Zali Steggall, Julia Banks and Rob Oakeshott calling for action on climate change and transparency in government.
But Voices for Indi candidate Helen Haines has elected not to take part.
"Helen was asked to participate," a spokesman for Ms Haines said.
"But the campaign took the decision that its resources are better directed in Indi, where we've strived to support and work with local services, businesses, designers, printers and filmmakers."
Mr Morrison said the advertisement gave the impression the independents were part of the same political party.
"Following a delegation of farmers, particularly dairy farmers, from the Murray region, (to Canberra last month) we initiated the ACCC doing their work into that section of the basin," Mr Morrison said.
"It is underway now and on top of that will include an assessment of the socio-economic impact of things as they are currently operating.
"It is our first step in what I found to be very helpful meetings on how the current plan is impacting on them as local farmers."