SURELY you wouldn't think unkindly about The Honourable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia and his handling of the Federal Government's $20 billion infrastructure fund?

He may have vested interests, like any politician, but you simply couldn't imagine him using the wish-list as a Labor Party slush fund. Could you? No, never! And certainly not so soon after all the outrage he expressed over John Howard's election antics, doling out the lollies to Liberal marginal seats from his pork barrel.

I think our Kevin's above all that. He's a man of destiny. A man of integrity. A church-going, God-fearing soul. No hypocrite here he's a man for all the people, not just sectional interests. And yet...

Sydney's $12 billion North-West Metro, the railway that replaced the much-promised heavy rail version, was not included on NSW Premier Nathan Rees's wish-list. The Herald had inside information this was because Rudd ruled it out in favour of the Western Metro (the Parramatta version) because there were no votes in a line to the Blue Ribbon Heartland.

You may recall me making the same point a few weeks ago; with five Liberal MPs howling Labor down at every opportunity, why would the State Government invest precious billions out here?

Nathan Rees may have been raised in the North-West, but his allegiances are in Sussex Street. Since the Herald bombshell everyone's ducked for cover, from Our Kevin 07 down.

Rees's spokesman said the reason the metro was not included was because it was fully-funded and didn't need to be on the list. Yeah, right!

A day later, poor young Nathan - hung out to dry by Canberra colleagues suddenly unavailable for comment - had changed tune. He was all for the metro, of course (''I've seen the congestion on the roads into the city from the North-West...''). But Rudd was only interested in funding projects in areas of high population density, he explained.

The North-West didn't have the population to justify the metro, yet.

This conveniently continues Labor's proven and lame strategy of not providing facilities before growth occurs, but afterwards, if ever.

If Labor can fob things off long enough, it becomes problematic for the enemy in power later. And that can't be a bad thing, can it?

The band-aid solution to our dilemma is as obvious as the reason for Rudd denying the slush-fund claim. Expect a few more buses, Costa style, in place of the Metro. If we're lucky.