Taken in isolation, the statement could be construed as nothing more, and nothing less, than a reflection of the usual insularity that resides in the rhetorical arsenal of political leaders; one which deliberately limits the definition of Ballarat to a panoptic view of the city's picturesque centre and older inner suburbs, and one wholly removed from the lived experience of those who inhabit the city's growing urban sprawl.

But Cr Moloney, who was addressing a gathering of influential people drawn from the city's most powerful institutions, was not invoking a nostalgic vision of a Ballarat from halcyon times past, nor modern Ballarat in its present physical form.

He was speaking of future Ballarat: a formative vision of a bold city landscape that derives both its relevance and cosmopolitan force from decades of urban planning.

The only problem, Cr Moloney said, was that it was a vision of a future Ballarat entirely contingent on the funding whims of state and federal government.

"We are on the cusp of some wonderful things," he said, referencing various major projects, including the circular economy precinct, the city's major events precinct expansion and the Ballarat Link Road.

"But it does need a kick from our federal and state representatives, to ensure we can capitalise on all these amazing things."

The reality is that around three quarters of City of Ballarat's revenue - or $208 million out of $268 million, according to its 2020-21 budget - is derived from rates, with the bulk of the remaining revenue sourced in state or federal government grants. Each year, council dedicates over 75 per cent of its total revenue to incomes and service delivery, including projects, leaving the remainder - around $65-70 million - for capital works or infrastructure maintenance.

In an environment where council lacks authority to unilaterally raise rates, its ability to leverage higher grant funding naturally assumes added importance - both as a matter of financial sustainability, where costs outpace revenue, and in terms of the city's capacity to realise its major infrastructure promises.

"I can't over-emphasise, in the end, just how important grant funding is, now that we're in a rate-capped environment," said Evan King, chief executive of City of Ballarat.

"Local government doesn't have the financial capacity to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to investment in infrastructure; we need to partner with state and federal government to fund that infrastructure."

The whole point of urban planning, including infrastructure investment, is of course to circumvent conditions which give rise to congestion, overcrowding, urban heating and inadequate access to public goods and services.

But by dint of our federal system, problems can arise when the vast majority of the nation's infrastructure spending is controlled by the commonwealth.

Three weeks ago, the federal budget allocated just 5.9 per cent, or $208 million, out of a total $3.56 billion worth of new infrastructure funding over four years to Victoria. New South Wales, meanwhile, is set to take a $1.3 billion slice, Western Australia $1.1 billion and Queensland $477 million.

To top it off, not a cent of the Coalition's separate, newly formed $7.1 billion regional investment fund has been allocated to regional Victoria. In practical terms, funding disparities of that kind inevitably impose significant constraints on the Victorian government's capacity to fund the competing infrastructure priorities of its 79 municipalities.

Augmenting this difficult terrain lies the unfortunate reality that politically marginal seats tend to attract investments that lack a business case, while deserving projects - such as the Ballarat Link Road - in safe electorates remain overlooked. The ultra-marginal electorate of Bass in Tasmania's north has, for instance, already received $418 million in election commitments from the Coalition, and Ballarat - so far - nothing.

Against this thorny backdrop, the city is experiencing unheralded growth, with council officers just two months ago foreshadowing the not unlikely possibility of 200,000 residents by 2040, up from the city's current population of 114,000 and 83,000 in 2001. To lend context to those figures, in 2007 Ballarat was only projected to reach 115,000 residents by 2031, but is now expected to eclipse that figure within months.

Most of Ballarat's growth, to date, has been absorbed in greenfield development to the city's west and north, with the latest mass subdivision - yet to receive council approval - seeking to transform five rural blocks on Webb Road in Bonshaw into 183 homes.

Notably, the site of the proposed development is located in the heart of Ballarat's western growth zone, with Bells Road (the future Ballarat Link Road) close to a stone's throw from its south-western edge.

The cascading pressures and demands that attach to unabated population growth were, Mr King said, among the primary reasons Ballarat planners had long lobbied for the Ballarat Link Road - a project conceived by local planners more than 15 years ago.

"If the project [stage 2] doesn't get funded," he said, "the danger is gridlock and congestion will increase; there's no doubt it will impact the liveability of those growth areas and the wider city, and all that we love about Ballarat could be lost."

"It's why it's so vitally important that investment in infrastructure keep up with future growth."

It was a sentiment shared by Cr Moloney, who said road congestion would inevitably become the defining feature of residents' day-to-day lives, should state and federal governments fail to fund the project.

"The time to invest in the project is absolutely now before it gets worse as we're already reaching those initial pinch points," he said.

"Ballarat residents and businesses contribute $500 million in federal taxes every year - that number alone shows Ballarat should be faring better across federal funding."

"We're only after a small fraction of that investment back."

The vision of what Ballarat will become should the project continue to gather dust - a city plagued by congestion, uncontrolled growth, and devoid of services equipped to meet the needs of the community - compared to the rosy alternative is as stark as it is jarring.

And it is the distinct possibility of realising that second-rate future which, no doubt, prompted the city's most powerful players this week to unite behind a council-led joint campaign - Ballarat: Now and Into the Future 2022 - aimed at securing funding for six major infrastructure projects, including the Ballarat Link Road.

The campaign, by design, targets Ballarat's state and federal representatives, ensuring none can be left in any doubt as to the city's shared vision of its key priorities.

Should the gambit fail, however, there looms the very real prospect of Ballarat's new suburbs and neighbourhoods having been abandoned by state and federal governments, even before they were occupied by new residents.

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