Prime Minister 'verballed' over accusation he refused to meet Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews
Updated
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected accusations that he refused to meet Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to discuss their dispute over the East West link project.
Mr Abbott said he had been "rather verballed" by the Premier and that he was happy to meet him.
It is the latest episode in a war of words between the two leaders over the road development.
Last week the pair shared heated correspondence over the project.
The Federal Government has pledged $3 billion for the road project, which the new Victorian Government has vowed to scrap.
The Andrews Government is now locked in a legal dispute with the consortium hired to build the road.
Mr Andrews accused the Prime Minister of trying to bully Victoria and his version of events was that he said "it would be great to catch up quite soon".
"And at the end of the phone there was silence. I thought, he's actually hung up at one point, but it was absolute silence," Mr Andrews said at the time.
But Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio that was not the conversation he remembers.
He said they were talking about the legalisation of medical marijuana.
"He and I are rather like-minded on this issue and at the end of that conversation he said happy to catch up next time you're in Melbourne, and I said yep, let's do it," he said.
"I don't know why I was accused of not wanting to meet because I'm happy to meet.
"Of course, and if I may say so, I was rather verballed by the Premier there."
Mr Abbott was asked several times if he would cancel the federal funding for East West Link on the eve of the state budget in May but he refused to answer.
"Unfortunately the Victorian Government has cancelled the one really major project," he said.
"We want to spend the money, we absolutely want to spend the money, and we're never going to rip off Victoria but there's nothing else to spend it on. That's the problem."
Topics: federal---state-issues, government-and-politics, parliament, state-parliament, melbourne-3000
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