Deloraine have been left high and dry amid federal funding confusion

The duo collaborated at the Deloraine Racecourse yesterday, where Senator Colbeck said he was assisting the council in ensuring they received committed funding from the federal government.

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"We're here to make sure the $3.35 million allocated to the Meander Valley community - to contribute to the redevelopment of this area (Deloraine Racecourse) - is maintained by the Australian Government," he said.

"This is a commitment that has some standing over a matter of time and is not from before the last election, it goes back to 2019, and frankly the community doesn't care who it comes from."

Senator Colbeck said that despite the pledge initially being made by his own party, he expected Labor to honour the commitment as the new federal government.

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"We don't want any mean and nasty politics where they could say 'due to it being made by the opposition we'll reconsider it or take it away,' because the community has actually been planning things on the basis of that commitment," he said.

"If this project doesn't go ahead, the community will be back at square one, as all of the work and investment they've made in the already started planning and consultation processes will be lost."

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Senator Colbeck called on Lyons Labor MHR Brian Mitchell to "stand up" to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and Treasurer and say "this funding needs to be delivered because the community is deserving of it".

Mr Mitchell responded by labelling Senator Colbeck's comments "more nasty and baseless politicking".

"Labor will stand by our election commitments and we will know more about the details of how they'll roll out after the Budget, which is set for October 25," he said.

"The fact is the Liberals left us with a trillion dollars of debt and a program riddled with waste, inefficiency, and pork-barrelling, so we have done the sensible thing and put them under the microscope to make sure taxpayers are getting value for money."

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Cr Johnston said the the funding would help the council bring new life to one of Australia's oldest existing racecourses, by turning it into a regional-scale community space.

"I haven't heard of anyone against these upgrades and there's no real limit to what we can do here, we just need some dollars to get some facilities up," he said.

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