PM, Vic premier collide again on East West

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the Commonwealth cannot build the East West Link alone and has again appealed to Victoria's new Labor government to build it.

Mr Abbott says his government has a mandate to build the toll road after pledging funds before last year's federal election, but Premier Daniel Andrews promised before Saturday's election to dump it.

On Friday, the federal and state leaders collided for a second time in a week over their stance on the toll road.

Mr Abbott said the Commonwealth wants the road built and so do Victorians, but it cannot do it alone.

"I don't think you can realistically build something like this without cooperation between the Commonwealth and the states," he told reporters in Melbourne.

He appealed to Mr Andrews not to junk the project.

"My appeal to Daniel Andrews is, don't throw 250 people out of work on the eve of Christmas," he said.

"Keep East West going because East West means 7000 jobs and it means a much better life for millions of Victorians."

Mr Andrews later said he was disappointed Mr Abbott again invited him to break his election promise not to build the project.

"He can invite me as often as he likes to break a promise but I will not be doing that," he told reporters.

Mr Andrews said his conversation with Mr Abbott on Monday was productive and hoped to discuss other needed infrastructure projects with him. The pair

But Mr Abbott again repeated on Friday that $3 billion of federal funds pledged are reserved for East West Link "when the Victorian government finally comes to its senses".

Mr Abbott and Mr Andrews, together with their treasurers, met for the first time since the election over lunch in Melbourne on Friday.

Meanwhile, Mr Andrews says he will still release the business case, contract and side deal for the toll road but as of Friday had not seen the documents.

"This is not a question of if these documents are released, it is simply a matter of when it can be done, making sure that we protect all the liabilities of the state, making sure that we do this in a proper way," he said.

The Labor government could have to pay up to $1.1 billion in compensation to the consortium if the contracts are ripped up.