Can somewhere you can drive to on a metropolitan freeway be seriously considered a regional town?

It is a question puzzling leaders in more remote parts of Western Australia, after more than $20 million in Royalties for Regions (RFR) funding was pledged to projects in Mandurah in Thursday's state budget.

The city, approximately 70km south of Perth on its southern fringes, received $10 million for the redevelopment of its foreshore and $16 million for the construction of a high-rise car park at Mandurah Train Station.

With the budget slashing RFR projects across the state, the prospect of a boost for projects just 45 minutes drive from the Perth CBD has left regional leaders distinctly unimpressed.

Foreshore funding allocation 'farcical'

In Coolgardie, 550km east of Perth, the Government axed a $3.2 million proposal to turn the town's historic post office into a hub for commercial and government services.

"I think the people of regional WA have been betrayed by the Labor Government," shire president Mal Cullen said.

"Projects like the Mandurah Foreshore being funded from Royalties for Regions? It's farcical."

Councillor Cullen also chairs the peak body for local governments in the Goldfields — where $60 million promised for sealing the Goldfields Highway between Wiluna and Meekatharra and a $19.5 million redevelopment of Laverton Hospital were also scrapped.

"If Mandurah is a region, if they're going to spend Royalties for Regions money there, I don't think the rest of us have got a chance," Cr Cullen said.

"I think the people of regional WA have been betrayed by the Labor Government."

Mandurah 'most certainly a region': former mayor

While Mandurah began life as a regional coastal town, Perth's steady sprawl has left it firmly ensconced in the city's southern suburbs.

Despite this, former Mandurah mayor Paddi Creevey rejected any suggestion the town could be considered metropolitan.

"If you try telling Geelong, the Gold Coast or Bunbury they are not region, just because they have urban population, that just does not stack up," Ms Creevey said.

She said Mandurah's regional status rested in its place in the Peel Region, not in Perth, with the town the administrative centre for five other shires — all of them definitely regional.

The region's contribution to mining royalties (Peel is the Government's third-largest source of mining revenue after the Pilbara and Goldfields), also counted in Mandurah's favour.

"Geraldton is a major town, Kalgoorlie is a major town — it's the same thing for Mandurah," Ms Creevey said.

"Just because we happen to be on the edge of the metropolitan area doesn't make us any less of a region."

Minister defends foreshore funds

Despite earlier this year criticising some of the beautification works funded from RFR, including $20 million on the Esperance foreshore as "petunia planting", Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan defended the Government's contributions to Mandurah.

"Mandurah has always been considered a region, it's not something we've just devised," Ms MacTiernan said.

Alannah MacTiernan says Mandurah has always been considered a region. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

"Certainly, the community down in Mandurah do not consider themselves to be [part of Perth]."

She said the foreshore funds would help diversify the local economy and reduce unemployment.

But WA Nationals leader Mia Davies said the logic was a backdoor for Labor to funnel regional spending into Perth's southern corridor.

"The Labor Government has been quite blatant in making sure projects in their electorates are funded, to the detriment of projects elsewhere in the state," Ms Davies said.