The Victorian government has accused Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of “petty politics” for releasing details of the proposed Melbourne Airport rail link to the media before the Premier.

Daniel Andrews received an official letter from Mr Turnbull with the proposal after midnight on Thursday morning, hours after the details had already appeared in the Herald Sun.

State Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the two governments needed to “put aside petty politics” and work constructively.

“It’s that sort of petty politics that’s really frustrating. It’s frustrating for those of us involved in politics and it’s even more frustrating for people who just want to see this project get done,” she said on Thursday.

Mr Turnbull defended his communication with the Premier and request for Victoria to match the federal government’s $5 billion investment.

“This is the new way the federal government works on infrastructure in cities. We want to work as partners,” he said.

Mr Turnbull called on the state government to confirm support for a funding partnership.

“The decision has to be made, leadership has to be shown, money has to be invested,” he told reporters at Melbourne Airport.

“The time for putting this in the too-hard basket is over.”

The federal government has proposed four possible routes and has committed to putting $5 billion towards the project.

Ms Allan said the Prime Minister needed a “reality check” over the “ambitious” plan to start construction as early as 2020.

“It’s good to see that the Prime Minister has finally found Victoria on a map and is committing to infrastructure funding,” Ms Allan said.

The state government had already committed in the 2017 budget to further investigate an airport rail link and was considering models and routes, she added.

“We’ve already started work on the planning, work on the preliminary business case, and that work involves the Commonwealth and we’ll continue to work with them on this project.”

Mr Turnbull proposed four possible routes, which Ms Allan criticised for being Melbourne-centric. She said the rail link needed to connect regional Victorians.

“Only one of those four potential route alignments could provide for a connection into regional Victoria, and that’s been a clearly stated priority of Victoria,” Ms Allan said.

“Connecting it through the growing areas of the north and west of the city makes sense.”

She said the devised routes were from a 2012 report by the state government and were outdated.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten backed the plan, despite two of the four proposed routes running through his electorate of Maribyrnong.

“What we now need to do is belt and brace it with some proper planning and detail, and of course some proper consultation,” he said from Perth.

The rail project has been discussed for decades, initially by former Victorian Liberal premier Henry Bolte, who held office from the mid-1950s to 1972.

State Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was time to “just build” the link, now “real” money had been pledged by the federal government.

-with AAP