Selling the Port of Melbourne lease will provide $200 million to help Victorian farmers with investment in agricultural infrastructure.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced the new Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund in Bunyip and said the new $200 million would support investment in agricultural infrastructure and supply chains to boost productivity, increase exports and reduce costs.
The deal is reliant on the successful passage of the lease legislation through parliament, which may not be an easy feat as the coalition and the Greens are using their numbers in the upper house to send the bill to an inquiry.
Mr Andrews said lease sale was expected to go well above the $5 to $6 billion forecast.
He would not rule out bypassing parliament to sell the port, but said it would come at a cost.
"If those that are standing in the way, if they'll just move and let us get on and deliver this then we'll be able to provide the funding for this fund and be able to do even more," Mr Andrews told reporters.
"Before the election, we promised that a Labor government would lease the Port of Melbourne. We will deliver on that promise, to ensure our farmers and regional communities get the support they need."
Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey said it was fantastic to see the rural economy benefit from the lease of the Port of Melbourne, something he had been lobbying hard for.
He also promised to keep Treasurer Tim Pallas to his word that agricultural producers wouldn't see rising costs at the port.
But Nationals leader Peter Walsh said the sale could raise up to $7 billion but rural Victorians would see little benefit.
"The Port of Melbourne was built off the back of farmers and exporters and the Melbourne-focused Labor government are again short changing regional Victoria," he said in a statement.
"Regional Victoria has 25 per cent of the state's population and Labor's `scraps off the table' fund is just three per cent of the potential Port of Melbourne sale proceeds."
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