Newcastle Art Gallery, Victoria Theatre miss out as Labor dubs Building Better Regions funding a 'rort'

Shovel-ready projects like the $10 million Newcastle Art Gallery expansion and the $8.5 million revitalisation of the Victoria Theatre have missed out, Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon said.

Meanwhile, Coalition-held and margin seats received around $270 million out of $300 million of available funding, she said.

"While our community received $30,000, some Coalition-held electorates received up to $18.5m in funding," Ms Claydon said.

Previous rounds of the Building Better Regions fund are the subject of accusations of ministerial interference and a sweeping audit by Australian National Audit Office.

The Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has defended the program as being "open, competitive and merit-based". He has pointed to regional Australia, geographically, being overwhelmingly represented by Coalition MPs.

"The Liberal and Nationals government is delivering for regional Australia and that's what we'll continue to do," Mr Joyce said in a statement. "All selected projects were assessed against publicly available guidelines as eligible and providing value for money."

Opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Catherine King described the allocation of funding as a scandal involving secret, colour-coded spreadsheets.

Across the Hunter, funding was allocated to five different projects, including $10 million for the Hunter Sports Centre in Glendale, towards a the facility's $25.7 million expansion.

He made that announcement in person in what was a clearly an early move in the race for Hunter - the seat being vacated by retiring Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon.

There was $4 million to develop a tourism transport interchange at the Birubi Point Aboriginal Place and Worimi Conservation Lands in Port Stephens, and $85,000 for Lake Macquarie City Council's extension of its Creative LAKE art trail. In Newcastle, the Curious Legends Limited were allocated more than $30,000 towards a site-specific cultural performance with puppets for Newcastle's New Annual festival.