Anthony Albanese has rejected claims the government is leaving behind regional areas for infrastructure projects ahead of the federal budget.
The prime minister said next week's budget would contain funding for transport projects, including in rural and regional parts of the country.
Members of the coalition have accused the government of politicising funding for areas outside major cities.
However, Mr Albanese said work was under way to reform how regional grants and projects were allocated in the future.
"I've seen some commentary which is ill-founded about our infrastructure investments ... a government that I lead will always deliver on infrastructure," he told reporters in Forbes on Monday.
"We'll continue to work with state and territory governments and local government.
"If you want to know where my government will approach community infrastructure grants, it will be through local government."
The comments come as opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie accused the government of ripping regional funding out of the budget.
"There's huge concerns that this government has a vendetta against the regions," she told ABC Radio on Monday.
"We've got to make sure that the programs and projects that we put in place ... out in the regions are funded."
Nationals leader David Littleproud called for the government to sit down with the junior coalition party to ensure regional areas were included.
"Don't rip the guts out of regional Australia - actually sit down and constructively give us a sustainable funding model for infrastructure for the 30 per cent of Australians who live outside of (a) capital city," he told Sky News.
"Let's make sure we get our fair share so that we don't have this continual fighting on a political level."
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher hit back at claims regional areas were being forgotten.
"We have looked at every department and every line in this first wave of the audit so I do not accept the line that's been run by the Nationals that this is somehow targeting them," she told ABC Radio.
"You'll see a huge spend in the regions - quite rightly and quite appropriately."
The NSW state government said the federal government had "short-changed" the state ahead of the budget.
State treasurer Matt Kean said federal Labor was playing favourites with other Labor states, while coalition governments at a state level were missing out.
Mr Albanese said large amounts of infrastructure project funding had been set aside for NSW in the budget.
