Liberals finally honour sea wall funding.

Media Release.

Wednesday, 04 December 2013

Following significant pressure from Labor and the community, the Abbott Government today confirmed they will honour some of the money allocated for the Torres Strait sea wall project. After being elected in September, the Abbott Government froze payments of infrastructure grants allocated from the Regional Development Australia Fund - $5 million of which was for the construction of sea walls. Queensland Labor Senator Jan McLucas raised the concern in Senate Estimates in November and called on the Abbott Government to honour the funding, particularly given it was already in the federal budget. "The fact is there is federal funding allocated for this project so for the Abbott Government to abandon this critical project would have been a real blow," Senator McLucas said. "It has been a week of quite incredible back flips for the Abbott Government but I am pleased the $5 million will now be forthcoming, as was originally planned and budgeted by Labor. "The next challenge is to get the full $12 million from the Abbott Government as was committed so the whole project can proceed. "Again, there is no legitimate reason for the government to prevent this from happening; the planning work is done and the money is in the budget. "Let's get on with it."