Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has voiced his support for a multi-million dollar proposed Latrobe Valley dental lab after doubt was cast over the project’s certainty.
Earlier this month it was revealed the Federal Government had failed to finalise a funding agreement for the $4 million training clinic and dental prosthetics lab at Churchill prior to the election period.
The lab would be run by Latrobe Community Health Service and was part of a group of projects announced by Regional Australia Minister Catherine King last month, including the Moe railway revitalisation and a Workforce Development Plan, for which funding agreements are also yet to be negotiated.
Ms King insisted despite this, the three projects had been budgeted for and were secure under a Labor Government.
At the time, Mr Chester did not respond to questions from The Express about whether a Coalition Government could commit to funding the LCHS project, which falls within his electorate, in the absence of a finalised funding agreement.
Yesterday he said if Ms King was “telling the truth” and the projects had been budgeted for under the current government there was “no reason why an incoming Coalition Government wouldn’t support what is an excellent project”.
He said however, it would be unfair to the people of the Latrobe Valley to promise them the money when he did not have access to the “full details”.
“It’s important that people can trust the announcement of a minister and when she says the money is there, I’m prepared to take her on her word and I’m confident the project will go ahead regardless of which party wins government,” Mr Chester said.
“If we find out there’s an issue with the funding, I can assure the Latrobe Valley residents I’ll be fighting damn hard to secure the funding required.”
Regional Development Australia Gippsland chair Richard Elkington said an “actual commitment” to the funding concerned would be a matter for incoming government.
“The Department (of Regional Australia) had continued doing their due diligence, but there was not enough time left between the announcement and an election being called,” Mr Elkington said.
“You can’t do a formal deed of agreement in a few weeks.”
LCHS chief executive Ben Leigh welcomed Mr Chester’s comments.
“With the strong support of the community and both sides of politics we look forward to an early start to this project,” Mr Leigh said.
“The long term jobs and exports created will be an important step in creating new opportunity and diversifying the economy of Gippsland.”
