Federal budget 2022-23: What does it mean for Ballarat?

The federal budget, handed down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday night, focused on cost-of-living support and pandemic recovery measures, as expected.

The fuel excise will be cut in half for six months, saving 22.1 cents per litre from March 30, and in his speech, Mr Frydenberg said "(it) will flow through to the bowser over the next two weeks".

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"The competition watchdog will monitor retailers to make sure these savings are passed on in full," he added.

A measure that will deliver $420 to low- and middle-income taxpayers through a tax offset, and direct $250 cash payments for pensioners, job seekers, veterans, and concession card holders, among others, appear designed to grab headlines ahead of the announcement of the federal election, which must be held by May 21.

For Ballarat, where council has been hoping for major funding for infrastructure projects like the second stage of the Ballarat Link Road and further upgrades at the Ballarat Airport, there wasn't a lot of immediate announcements.

The federal government did commit a further $501 million, over three years, for council road projects, and $1.3 billion nationally to improve mobile coverage along regional transport routes.

Already announced this week was Victoria's infrastructure package, which focused on freight - the Sunraysia Highway between Ballarat and Ouyen received an additional $45 million for scoping studies and planning, and intersection upgrades near Birchip, but this was the only part directly related to Ballarat.

City of Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney said the government "should be applauded" for dedicating more money to regional areas, but noted "the devil is in the details" about its distribution.

"There's some really significant spending on regional projects and improvements for regional Australia, and it's important that all political parties get down to the detail of what that's going to mean for places like Ballarat when we get to the election proper," he said.

"Population should be the key determiners of infrastructure spending, hopefully there's at least an early stage funding opportunity (for projects like the Ballarat Link Road) to come out of that."

Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said he wanted to see more long-term detail, adding he was impressed with announcements for additional regional mental health support funding but disappointed at the lack of focus reducing emissions.

"(The budget) doesn't seem to take any pressures off rising inflation, and potentially interest rates," he said.

"I think it's sad for our children who will take little hope from the budget tonight to deal with emissions and keep global warming below 1.5 degrees - we can't help but look at weather events and not draw parallel global warming, that has huge consequences and cost for us all."

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