A $14 million commitment to extend the runway at Ballarat Airport is not dependent on any commercial agreements says opposition regional development spokesman Anthony Albanese.
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But Mr Albanese, who was in Ballarat on Thursday to announce Labor's commitment to extend the runway at the airport, said he hopes the investment will pave the way for commercial airlines to run regular services out of Ballarat, like those from Bendigo to Sydney.
The project will be funded should Labor win the federal election on May 18. It will also require a further $8 million investment which the City of Ballarat hopes will be able to source through state grants and investments.
The lengthened runway, which will be extended from 1245 metres to 1800 metres would be able to cater for Dash 8 and SAAB-340 services, which are the most popular domestic regional carrying aircrafts. It would also provide a strong base for the City of Ballarat to launch its plan for an emergency services hub to be located at Mitchell Park.
"This project stacks up even without commercial guarantees because of what it does for emergency services," Mr Albanese said.
"We know unfortunately that this part of Victoria is subject to natural disasters and we've seen the consequences of this in the past. We know this will make an enormous difference to that."
Mr Albanese said from experience, commercial airlines tended to make decisions once infrastructure was built.
"It's taken a while to get the direct flights from Sydney to Bendigo," he said. "I've been speaking to airlines in the last fortnight about successful that's been as it is making a huge difference to the economy of Bendigo.
"Certainly I would hope that in the future that direct flights (from Ballarat) are something that will occur which will be up to the airport and the council to negotiate."
Ballarat Mayor Samantha McIntosh called on the Federal Liberal Government to match the pledge before the election.
The Federal Government allocated $100 million to regional airport upgrades in the 2019 budget, available from July, 1 but so far there has been no committment from the Liberals on Ballarat's airport.
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