Wannon has been left scraping the bottom of the pork barrel again compared to marginal neighbouring electorate Corangamite.
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While Wannon's incumbent Liberal MP Dan Tehan has found a pot of money in the recent budget as well as a selection of pledges if he is re-elected, Labor and its candidate Gilbert Wilson have offered local voters essentially nothing if he wins.
The Standard has tallied up both the budgeted and promised spending.
Mr Tehan has allocated over $35 million in funding from April's budget for a range of projects across the electorate: $26 million has been plunged into the crumbling road network, $2.2 million will fund a business case for redeveloping the Maroona-Portland freight rail line and $1.6 million will built mobile phone towers in Orford, Maroona and Noorat, along with a handful of other projects.
In addition, Mr Tehan has promised a further $39.5 million of projects if the Coalition is re-elected: $6 million for the Warrnambool Surf Lifesaving Club redevelopment, $28 million more for road repairs, $3.2 million to redevelop Port Fairy Football Netball Club's facilities, and $2.25 million for a new sport pavilion in Elliminyt.
The $75 million total compares favourably to Coalition pork barrelling in Corangamite, which comes to $47.3 million this election cycle, although Corangamite was promised an eye-watering $3 billion at the 2019 election.
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It is the Labor promises that would leave Wannon voters feeling overlooked in 2022.
In response to questions from The Standard, Mr Wilson said Labor had "announced several major commitments in Wannon", but he listed only two: $2.2 million for the Maroona-Portland rail line study and $390,000 for women's crisis accommodation.
But since the government has already budgeted the funding for the rail study, Labor cannot legitimately claim it as an election promise.
That leaves Labor's total election promises for Wannon at $390,000.
In Corangamite, which unlike Wannon is on a razor-thin margin, Labor has promised dozens of projects totalling at least $175 million.
That means Labor has promised 450 times as much funding to Corangamite in the 2022 campaign.
Independent candidate for Wannon Alex Dyson said he felt like Labor had abandoned the race in Wannon before it even began.
"It's often felt like I'm the only other candidate running (apart from Dan Tehan)," he said.
Mr Dyson said it was difficult not being able to make large funding announcements using government money like Mr Tehan has been able to do.
"But I feel people are able to see it for what it is, which is just last minute spending. It's a stark contrast to the past 12 years, where there's been very little for Wannon," he said.
"It is pretty sad to see how loyalty to a particular party gets you nowhere. It's a safe seat, so it gets taken for granted."
Mr Dyson said as an independent he couldn't make specific announcements like the major party candidates. "I can't offer money I don't have," he said.
But he guaranteed he would bring more money into Wannon if he were elected than Mr Tehan has.
"Wannon would see a flood of money if I became the member," he said.
"If you look at what happened in the seat of Indi after Cathy McGowan won there, it was incredible how much money started coming in."
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