What Victoria wants from the fed budget

WHAT VICTORIA WANTS FROM THE FEDERAL BUDGET

* It did want money for the $11 billion Melbourne Metro Rail Project, until Victoria decided to go it alone just to get it done. The state will still take any money Canberra wants to tip in to it. Same deal for the $5.5 billion Western Distributor toll road, which did need federal funding until Victoria decided to build it regardless. But with the state getting just 9 per cent of federal infrastructure funds, maybe Treasurer Scott Morrison will find another project to correct the balance.

* Victoria's car industry has two feet in the grave, and the government wants some big Defence contracts to fill the gap. It wants the Land 400 vehicle to be built in the state - it was designed in Melbourne - and it also wants some big ship-building contracts so the Williamstown shipyards don't get mothballed permanently.

* Funding for the final years of Gonski and some extra health funding would be good. Still, Victoria is running big surpluses and funding its own infrastructure while Canberra has deficits everywhere. The state is hoping it doesn't cop any more cuts to health and schools.