Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to update the House on the strategic plan that we have been implementing in the township of Mildura. Prosperity doesn't just happen; it is actually as a result of choices that we make. The first thing the federal government have done since we have come into power is put common sense back into water policy. We've made it clear that we are not going to participate in buybacks. We wanted to give confidence to irrigators that water is going to be there and available for them to irrigate.

The second thing that the federal government has done is delivered $103 million for the Sunraysia Modernisation Project, which has been built and has now put a lot of the earthen channels into pipes and has driven efficiency and confidence in the region. We are also advocating for stage 2 of the Sunraysia Modernisation Project to expand the irrigation footprint by a further 25 per cent.

The other thing we've done is put in on-farm tax deductibility for irrigation infrastructure, as well as the $20,000 instant tax write-offs. This has meant that not only have we built infrastructure but agriculturalists and horticulturists have put infrastructure on their own farms.

The fourth thing we've done is developed three free trade agreements, with China, Korea and Japan. The prosperity that has come out of those has been phenomenal. They have driven over a billion dollars of additional money into this community and have really set us up for the future.

But, of course, we've got to be able to get the product to the market. The federal government has contributed $240 million to build the Murray Basin Rail Project. That's with $200 million from the state government, so it's a $440 million project now to have Victoria's busiest freight line taking all the horticultural products we produce to the marketplace.

Of course, it continues. If you're going to have cutting-edge producers, you need to have the NBN. We now have 11 NBN towers built around the township of Mildura. We are building the building blocks for prosperity.

The next thing we have done, which we will be opening in a week's time, is to upgrade the Mildura runway, which has cost the federal government $10 million in a $25 million upgrade. We now have 737s daily coming into Mildura and 140 commercial flights a week. You can fly direct to Sydney, Adelaide, Broken Hill and Melbourne, and perhaps in the future to Brisbane. This opens us up to the business community.

Of course, we wanted to make Mildura a great place to live. Also in a week's time, we'll be opening the $18 million Mildura waterfront, a beautiful place to walk down by the water. It means that we are investing in the quality of life in our region.

We do want to build stage 2 of the irrigation infrastructure. We believe there's a strong future there, and we want to expand it. Additionally, we are working on the Mildura Future Ready project. This is a strategic vision of the council. They need to invest in a sporting precinct; our sporting precinct is full. It needs some significant upgrades, and I'll be certainly fighting for $10 million to build part of the Mildura South sports precinct in the next round of the Building Better Regions Fund.

The other thing that has been a success for our community, which has the largest Indigenous community in the state of Victoria, is that we've had Indigenous employment programs. One of the things you will not see in Mildura is people from the Indigenous culture sitting at the river drinking alcohol. We have people actively engaged in getting people into work. We have businesses that are very proactive in making sure they provide culturally sensitive workplaces. We want to make sure that even though our community has prosperity, the prosperity is shared among everyone and that no-one is left behind.

The things that are building the prosperity in the town have been quite strategic. It hasn't been an accident. It's been really about building those key infrastructures. When you knit them all together, you're taking the products you produce to the market; you're opening up opportunities to the world; you're ensuring that there is first-rate telecommunications; and you're ensuring that we have a place where people want to live. I just want to say to the people of Mildura: the National Party have delivered for you.

Sometimes people in Mildura say that they feel like they miss out. Clearly, when I outline some of the federal government expenditure that goes into the town, they haven't missed out. But, because they are the furthest point from the capital of the state of Victoria, the furthest point from Melbourne, they believe at times they miss out. But I believe that when we work together, when we fight together and we put the case, we should be very proud of what we've achieved in that small town.

Mildura is a great inland city. I notice that Minister Taylor is here, and I hope that he sees that there is a long future for our inland city.

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