The Federal Budget has confirmed that local roads devastated by flood and storms will not see one cent of a fund that is currently earning the Morrison Government hundreds of millions of dollars in interest.

“$300 million of the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund will be spent between now and June 2023 for disaster resilience in NSW and Queensland, but the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains misses out,” Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman said.

“The money earmarked to be spent is obviously welcome news for those severely hit communities.

“But the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains are also vulnerable and disaster-prone. Why isn’t any funding going towards repairing the devasted roads and riverbanks in the Hawkesbury, or to make Blue Mountains infrastructure more resilient to fires and storms?

“This fund should already have been used following the bushfires to increase resilience, and after the floods to speed up remediation at places like Greens Road in Lower Portland, where residents now face even more disruption to their lives.

“I went to Upper Colo Road earlier this month, I saw for myself where the latest flood has carved holes into the surrounding hillside and the sections of the road that have simply disappeared into the river. The bridge that washed away in March 2021 hasn’t yet been replaced, and residents tell me the only other access road for those across the bridge is now virtually impassable.

“A huge section of Cornwallis simply doesn’t exist anymore. There’s a 100m-wide chasm at the river where paddocks used to be, and you’d need to build a bridge to replace the road.

“The potholes on Pitt Town’s evacuation route are bone-crunching – I know, because I’ve driven it with members of the Pitt Town Progress Association.

“In Blue Mountains areas like Berambing and townships up and down the Great Western Highway, drivers were popping tyres because of the state of the roads.

“This funding has been released for “exceptional circumstances” - the Morrison Government obviously doesn’t consider the 2019/20 bushfires “exceptional”.

“This Budget could have delivered real improvements for our region. Allocating money for local infrastructure from this fund could have made a tangible difference to so many lives particularly during natural disasters.

“Instead what we have is a Prime Minister who’s pretending to care about the costs of living because he has to call an election in the next fortnight.

“There’s a cash splash before the election and at least $3 billion in secret cuts after, buried in the Budget papers. 

“Josh Frydenburg and Scott Morrison are asking Australians for another three years, but they haven’t made any meaningful steps to addressing the aged care crisis and they haven’t funded a National Anti-Corruption Commission. 

“If this Government is defeated in May, its parting gift to Australians will be pay not keeping up with prices, a trillion dollars in debt, and rising interest rates.

“The Budget shows inflation rising and real wages are going backwards, leaving average workers more than $1300 worse off.

“And the Morrison Government is the second highest taxing government in three decades, collecting an extra $5,275 for every Australian, compared to the last Labor Government.

“After all the challenges and sacrifices made during the pandemic, floods and bushfires, the people of Macquarie need and deserve a better Budget for a better future.

“An Albanese Labor Government has real policies to ease the costs of living, strengthen Medicare, deliver cleaner and cheaper energy, a better NBN, cheaper access to