Canberra light rail funding announcement looms, despite ACT snubbed from $9.6bn announcement

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has confirmed a "significant" ACT infrastructure commitment will be included in the October 25 budget, in addition to two smaller projects.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr met with Finance Minister and Labor senator Katy Gallagher on Sunday morning and was briefed on the infrastructure package.

The Canberra Times understands the package could include funding for the next stage of light rail from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park, although the Minister's office wouldn't confirm it.

The Minister has confirmed the budget will include $5 million for a cycling route in Canberra's inner-north, which Labor promised at the election. Some $17 million will also be allocated to upgrade Brindabella Road, just outside the ACT.

But the big-ticket item will be revealed in a separate announcement which is expected in the coming days.

Ms King had encouraged the ACT government to lobby the Commonwealth for extra funds for Canberra's light rail network, after describing the project as transformative for the nation's capital.

Federal Labor promised ahead of the election to deliver the $132.5 million which the previous Coalition government had allocated, but walked back a pledge Bill Shorten took to the 2019 poll to invest $200 million into the project.

The assurance from Ms King's office came after a $9.6 billion pre-budget announcement on Sunday morning revealed funding for transport projects in all states and territories - except the ACT.

The ACT's omission had the potential to cause embarrassment for federal Labor members and the ACT Labor government, given their repeated claims that the Coalition had short-changed the nation's capital on infrastructure spending during its near decade in power.

The nation's capital received just over $51 million in the Morrison's final budget, which represented just 0.28 per cent of the $17.9 billion which had been allocated across the nation.

David Pocock used the lack of infrastructure spending in the ACT as a key part of his successful campaign to unseat Liberal senator Zed Seselja.

"Labor promised if it won it would end the raw deal on infrastructure funding the ACT has copped for more than a decade," Senator Pocock said on Sunday after the infrastructure list was released.

"I'm waiting to see what's in the budget, but the people of the ACT are expecting the government to deliver on their election commitments, including funding to get the AIS back up and running."

Canberra had been sidelined for years in federal funding that did not keep pace with the city's growth, he said.

"The nation's capital can't hold a large conference, let alone a sizeable indoor concert. It's time we had a plan to change that."

ACT opposition leader Elizabeth Lee said the lack of an announcement for Canberra's infrastructure, on the back the Finance Minister saying the ACT's housing debt would not be wiped, was disappointing for Canberrans.

"It appears the Chief Minister's consistent comments before and after the federal election that the ACT will receive significantly more federal funding under a Labour government appears to be premature and remains to be seen," she said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ahead of the federal election in May, Mr Barr said: "It is clear that we need a change in federal government for the ACT to get a fair deal on national infrastructure spending."

Mr Barr was on Sunday sounding confident that the Albanese government's first budget would deliver for the ACT.

"I have received an initial briefing on the ACT infrastructure package from Minister Gallagher this (Sunday) morning and look forward to the public announcement of a significant program of works for the territory," he told The Canberra Times.

Ms King acknowledged that some projects funded from the $9.6 billion announcement on Sunday had not been through the departmental review for suitability, including the $2.2 billion allocated for the first tranche of Melbourne's suburban rail loop.

However, some projects already flagged for funding will be pushed back or cut entirely, as the government complains of significant budget pressures.

"Things like the Urban Congestion Fund and commuter car parks - there will be car parks we are not proceeding with," Ms King told Insiders on Sunday, describing them as "extraordinary rorts".

"The reason I'm doing that is they have been underfunded, so if I want to proceed with some of those, I have to find an additional billion dollars to build them in the first place and there is no head room in the budget to do that."

Ms King has asked officials in her department to review promises made for community grants, many of which were focused on marginal seats. Some, but not all, of the previous government's earmarked projects would be funded.

They programs being reviewed include the Regional Acceleration Program and Building Better Regions Fund.

"Not many people knew about them because they weren't a competitive open grant, they were basically a slush fund," she said.

Labor's own election promises from this year, such as new pools in wealthy suburbs, could be cut as part of that departmental review process, the minister confirmed.

"Anything over $5 million that was part of my portfolio for the first time, I've asked my department to [review]."

The projects that will receive funding include $2.2 billion for Victoria's suburban rail network, which Labor made an election commitment to funding the first tranche. King defended that decision, even though it has not been reviewed by Infrastructure Australia and the business case was criticised the state's Auditor-General.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"Some challenges around that, but again, this is for the early works of this project. We haven't made any further commitments," she said.

"They have an election they are facing and this will be a contested project, I'm sure, but something we have confidence in."

The Coalition warned Labor was gearing up to cut funding to the regions. Opposition MP Ted O'Brien said Labor had a track record of ignoring the regions and his side of politics would be watching out for cuts.

"It probably won't surprise some people but this is what they do - Labor's back, so are taxes and so are the regions being ignored," he told Sky News.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government would support projects picked by the previous government where there was a compelling business case rather simple "to pay Barnaby Joyce off" through an agreement between the Nationals and the Liberals in the previous government.

"If it stacks up, we were pretty supportive, but there are areas where we've got to reduce spending and reallocate in the budget," she told Sunday Agenda. "We're not picking specific programs, necessarily and targeting them."