Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Capricornia for her question. She, like me, would have been delighted, last night, as the treasurer outlined the biggest infrastructure program in our nation's history. It was a real commitment to building the roads of the 21st century, a commitment that went way beyond anything Labor left behind in their forward estimates and went way beyond the things that the Labor Party had promised during the election campaign. We all know that what they promised in the election campaign always had conditions attached to it that the states would not find acceptable or was going to be funded out of the proceeds of the mining tax, which produced no significant money. The reality is that this was a real change, a government committed to really building the infrastructure projects that matter so much for our country.

The member for Capricornia will be particularly pleased about the commitments to the Bruce Highway, which is so critical to her electorate and so important for getting people in and out of Rockhampton and the other parts of her electorate. The budget includes substantial new investment on the Bruce Highway. There will be funding for 16 continuing projects and for 45 new projects on the Bruce Highway. This will make a difference in getting rid of some of the flood-prone areas, like the Yeppen flood plain, south of the member's electorate, and in making sure that traffic is able to move more smoothly along that road.

But there are major projects in every state, capital, country community, and right across the nation. There are the East West Link in Melbourne, the Pacific Highway from Sydney to Brisbane, the Western Sydney road projects—$2.9 billion to connect Western Sydney, WestConnex—and the north-south corridor in Adelaide. We will complete the gateway project in Western Australia and build the Swan Valley Bypass. There is $400 million for the Midland Highway. We will complete the Majura Parkway in the ACT. There will be significant road funding also in the Northern Territory. This is a major growth package that will deliver real results for Australia. It will make our road transport move more smoothly. It will ensure that there are jobs for Australian industry in construction—

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