Funding for a commuter car park in Sydney and money for Melbourne road and rail projects will be scrapped in Tuesday's federal budget.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher argued the projects promised by the Morrison government were an attempt to win votes and were not value for money.
"The former government used taxpayers' money to cynically buy votes before elections by politicising grants funds and used the budget to land political deals with the Nationals in the Coalition Party Room — that approach to spending ends in Labor's first budget," she said.
The cuts make up a small fraction of the $10 billion in savings the government has found over the forward estimates.
Another $11 billion will be re-prioritised, meaning money will be moved from one project to another.
Paying for 'new government priorities'
Senator Gallagher said the changes would be a better use of taxpayer money.
"We have responsibly gone through the budget, line-by-line, and identified savings, or re-prioritisations, where we can to begin the task of budget repair or pay for new government priorities," she said.
It is believed $3.6 billion will be saved through the government reducing its spending on external contractors, advertising, travel and legal expenses, while $2 billion in grants promised by the former government will be cancelled.
While all the details are yet to be released, the ABC knows of two projects under the urban congestion fund that have been cut, which Labor long argued was pork barrelling by the former government, and the Auditor General found decisions around commuter car parks were not merit-based.
These include $7.5 million promised for a commuter car park in Hurstville — in the Liberal-held seat of Banks — and $250 million to remove the Glenferrie Road level crossing in the seat of Kooyong, which was previously held by then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
Two road projects — the Napoleon Road upgrade and the Wellington Road duplication — that run through the Liberal-held Melbourne seat of Aston have been cut.
And nearly half a billion dollars announced by the Coalition in 2018 for Monash Rail, which is in the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm, has been scrapped.
However, funding for transport in that area will still occur because, while in Opposition, Labor pledged to help pay for a trackless tram.
Funding delays for infrastructure
The government has also made changes to $6.5 billion worth of infrastructure projects over the next 10 years.
Described as "re-profiling", the measure means a number of projects have had their funding delayed.
Australian Local Government Association President Linda Scott said local communities could not afford to wait any longer for projects to be completed.
"There is an urgent need for any investment in local infrastructure whether that be roads, or community centres or libraries or childcare centres," she said.
"That funding should be brought forward and not delayed by the commonwealth government."
'Australia's worst roundabout' funding delayed
The changes mean that the New South Wales government will have to wait until the middle of 2025 to receive funding for the Homebush Bay Drive and Australia Avenue intersection upgrade in Sydney's west.
When $50 million was promised by the Morrison government, then-local Liberal member Fiona Martin called it "Australia's worst roundabout".
And Queensland will have to wait longer for funding to complete the Rockhampton Ring Road.
The $800 million earmarked by the Coalition for the project has been put off for a few years.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said truck drivers and motorists could not wait any longer.
"Our roads need to be actually up for the task which is getting product to port," she said.
"Not to mention as a local getting kids to school or football or netball."
A shortage of workers, rising inflation and a lack of supplies are some of the government's reasons for pushing back the funding timelines.
However, the measure is also a way that governments can find extra cash in the short term to fix the budget books.
Government abandons regional grant funding round
Infrastructure, Regional Development and Transport Minister Catherine King says the government has abandoned Round 6 of the Building Better Regions Fund.
It means councils and organisations will need to prepare new expressions of interest – before being invited to apply for funding – for projects they first asked for in December and January.
"The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report basically said this program has been mishandled by the previous government and had not funded regions in a way that was fair or transparent," she said.
A report by the ANAO found the award funding favoured electorates held by The Nationals.
A total of $1.38 billion had been allocated to the program out to 2024–25, including $250 million in the sixth round which Minister King has abandoned.
The program supplied grants of $20,000 to $10 million to cover 50 per cent or more of eligible project costs.
In its place, two new programs are being created, the Growing Regions Program and the Precincts and Partnerships Program, which have $1 billion worth of available funding between them across the next three years.
In a statement, nationals leader David Littleproud said regional Australia was being punished by the budget, and that it was "hardly startling" most of the funding from the BBRF went to Nationals-held seats when it holds most seats in regional Australia.
GDP growth downgraded
The budget papers will show GDP growth falling by a quarter of a percentage point, to 3.25 per cent, this financial year, and fall again to 1.5 per cent next year.
Senator Gallagher also said that, as expected, global factors were taking a toll on Australia's economy.
"We're not immune from some of these challenges that we're seeing internationally or, indeed, domestically — even the floods — certainly our inflation problem that we need to get down to normal ranges, all of that is in the mix," she said.
She said it was even more reason the government was taking a careful approach to the budget so as not to add to inflation.
"We are trying to find sensible savings and re-prioritising existing funding," she said.
