The Prime Minister visited the South Australian seat of Boothby today, confirming a $43 million commitment to the 620 metre extension of the Tonsley line to connect the two key institutions to the CBD. The State Government will fund the remainder of the $85 million project.

However, Labor’s federal transport spokesman Anthony Albanese said it was a re-allocation of funds previously announced for the Tonsley line.

In government Labor allocated allocated $31.5 million to the Tonsley Park public transport project that was a casualty of a $4 billion funding cut by the Coalition.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott did not favour funding urban public transport rail projects, instead focusing his Government’s investment on freight and roads projects.

That has changed under Turnbull, a well-known user of public train services.

“This money go-round is a sleight of hand on the eve of an election that adds nothing to federal support for South Australia,”  Albanese said.

However, state transport minister Stephen Mullighan welcomed the commitment, saying the State Government had already allocated funding to pay its share of the project.

“This is money that we already have within our infrastructure project budget,” he told ABC radio.

He later said he would have been much happier if it was “extra money” coming to South Australia, rather than being reallocated from other SA projects.

However, the minister said the Flinders University rail link was an excellent project that had been pushed for by the State Government since late last year.