But the funding has been criticised by candidates in the Gippsland by-election who believe the figure falls well short of the pledges made during the 2007 Federal Election campaign.

The ALP figure was part of the Federal Budget's $3.2 billion Nation-building Road and Rail Initiative announced on Tuesday.

ALP candidate for the Gippsland by-election, Darren McCubbin said the allocation was only a small portion of a larger figure.

``The first stage will see the $500,000 for the development plans and if elected, I will work with the State Government to ensure all develops appropriately so we can move things forward as fast as possible,'' Mr McCubbin said.

``In the first Rudd Government budget we have committed money to start the development plans for the project and will commit $140 million to progress it over four years.

``I can't give a date when things will start moving, it just depends on the ability for me to work with the state and federal governments, but I promise I will be sitting with government to make sure it all happens.''

Nationals candidate for the Gippsland by-election, Darren Chester said more commitment from the Rudd Government was needed to ensure the upgrade would go ahead.

``There is a lot of concern at the lack of commitment to the highway upgrade, including the duplication,'' Mr Chester said.

``There were clear promises made in last year's election campaign in regards to the first stage of the project so it will be very disappointing if the project is being delayed unnecessarily.

``Now unless the Australian Labor Party are planning some by-election stunt, it appears that the actual duplication works itself missed out this year.''

Liberal candidate, Rohan Fitzgerald agreed that $500,000 towards the duplication was not good enough.

He said the former Coalition Government had committed $250 million during last year's election campaign.

Both Mr Fitzgerald and Mr Chester said the Federal Budget had neglected the entire Gippsland region.

However Mr McCubbin defended the Rudd Government's first budget.

``They (the Nationals and Liberal candidates) can say what they want, but the key thing is in the first Rudd Budget we have allocated money to begin the highway duplication's planning stage so we can get this vital project underway,'' Mr McCubbin said.