Regional transport minister Jenny Aitchison has hit back at "misleading" claims made about the state's roads budget.
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Ms Aitchison said comments by Nationals leader Dugald Saunders about the Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund were "immensely disappointing".
"This is just selective reading of the budget papers that the member for Dubbo has been doing," she said.
"He conflated the Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund with the Regional Road Fund ... I don't know if he's being willfully ignorant or he just is ignorant, it's very problematic."
Speaking to the Daily Liberal on Tuesday, Mr Saunders said the Narromine Shire Council would "not get a share" of the state government's $390 million Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund.
Ms Aitchison said Narromine council would, in fact, be getting $4.28 million - a share mayor Craig Davies told the Daily Liberal he thought was "generous".
"We welcome the funding ... it will go a long way," he said.
Asked about the oversight, Mr Saunders explained that the funding for Narromine council was mistakenly listed in the budget papers for Barwon rather than the Dubbo electorate.
Ms Aitchison said a second claim Mr Saunders made during a press conference at parliament house that councils would only be getting "an average of about $120 to $130k" to do sealing of roads over the budget period was also incorrect.
"What we said in the election is we would extend the regional fund and we would create this Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund," she said.
"We said we would put in an additional $390 million, bringing the total funding package for regional roads in regional councils to $670 million.
"And then to make things worse, you've got the former minister - now the shadow minister - going out there and talking about this $390 million regional emergency road repair fund and saying, 'we're only gonna put $30 million out there' when we are putting the whole $390 million out.
"It's just a lot of wizard work with words."
Asked if she thought Mr Saunders and shadow roads minister Sam Farraway were playing politics with their comments, Ms Aitchison said "I really hope it's not because road funding shouldn't be political, it should be about safety".
In his response to the budget, Mr Saunders also slammed the government's decision to scrap the $250 Regional Seniors Travel Card. But Ms Aitchison said ending the scheme made economic sense.
"That and the Regional Apprentice Travel Card is about half a billion dollars in funding out of the transport budget that has gone to give seniors a couple of tanks of petrol, at best," she said.
"And in Dubbo, they didn't even have the capacity to use those cards on the buses. So it really was money going to go to a petrol station.
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"Imagine what half a billion dollars could have done for projects like the new Dubbo bridge."
Ms Aitchison said the government has committed $81.31 million to the continuation of the New Dubbo Bridge project and $2 million will go towards the replacement of the Rawsonville Bridge.
$2.721 million will also be spent to continue the construction of the overtaking lane on the Mitchell Highway between Dubbo and Narromine.
"Talking to people in Dubbo, they say the bridge will unlock new housing in that precinct," Ms Aitchison said.
"I was there just a couple of weeks ago talking to the Far West Councils and spoke to mayor Mathew Dickerson about it. They're very keen to see that happen."
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