The Prime Minister for Sydney, Malcolm Turnbull, has struck again, appointing fellow New South Welshman Barnaby Joyce as Infrastructure Minister, in a sure sign Victoria can forget about ever getting its fair share of federal infrastructure funding.

Loyal Victorian Darren Chester has been dumped from Cabinet altogether, clearly paying a price for standing up for our state in Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney-centric Government.

In what is a truly scary prospect for the nation, we now have four New South Wales politicians in charge of Victoria’s infrastructure decisions – Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Paul Fletcher, and Barnaby Joyce.

This is at a time when federal infrastructure funding is becoming increasingly farcical and beyond outrageous.

New South Wales is getting a mammoth 45.5 per cent of federal infrastructure funding, while Victoria is getting a disgracefully paltry 9.4 per cent.

This is despite Victoria leading the nation in economic growth, employment growth and population growth.

Put another way, hard-working Victorian taxpayers – who make up 25.9 per cent of the population – are forking out billions of dollars for projects in New South Wales, including:

• $5.3 billion for Sydney’s second airport
• $3.6 billion for the joint Australian Government and NSW Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan
• $1.5 billion of funding and a $2.0 billion concessional loan for the WestConnex project in Sydney
• $412 million for NorthConnex in Sydney

The Andrews Labor Government will stand up for Victorians and keep fighting this outrageous behaviour by the most Sydney-centric Prime Minister our country has ever seen.

Quotes attributable to Treasurer Tim Pallas

“The Prime Minister for Sydney has little to be proud of in this latest reshuffle – the only infrastructure job he’s ever created in Victoria has been shipped to New South Wales.”

“By dumping a loyal Victorian and replacing him with just another politician from New South Wales, it’s clear Malcolm Turnbull couldn’t care less about our state.”

“We’ll keep fighting this Sydney-centric Government for our fair share, while continuing to grow our economy, create jobs and invest in the projects our state voted for and needs.”