Mr Scott said Treasurer Swan’s first Budget focused on urban road congestion and ignored the needs of rural, regional and remote Australians.

“Despite being a key link between the farm gate and the supermarket shelf, the rural and remote highways of Western Queensland are left off the list of Labor’s road funding priorities,” Mr Scott said.

Mr Scott expressed concern that the Labor Government’s $55 million election commitment to the Warrego Highway would be put on the backburner, in favour of works in metropolitan Australia.

“I have today written to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, for urgent confirmation that the $55 million for the Warrego Highway is included in this year’s Budget,” Mr Scott said.

“There is no excuse for the Rudd Government not to begin immediate works on the Warrego Highway, as Labor has said it will provide $20 million to establish Infrastructure Australia, which is simply a 12 person advisory council established to tell the Government what Australians already know about the needs of our road and rail system.

“I doubt the Labor Party will continue to commit beyond this Budget to important former National-Liberal Government road funding initiatives such as Roads to Recovery and AusLink 2, as their commitment to road and rail funding is around $8 billion less than what the Coalition had promised.

“During last year’s election campaign, the National-Liberal Coalition responded to the needs of Maranoa by committing more than $150 million to highways and roads in the electorate, including $20 million for the Cunningham Highway and $40 million for the Gore Highway. In the continuing spirit of ‘me-tooism’, if the Prime Minister is genuine about governing for all Australians then I would certainly be happy for him to photocopy all the Coalition’s commitments for Maranoa,” he said.