Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Our contribution is comprised half of grant and half of concessional finance. That is the commitment that we've made and that we set out on Sunday when we were in Dungowan. I refer the members opposite to the statements that have been made about this. We were very up-front about it.

I'm very pleased that the New South Wales Premier was so pleased to receive the support. It was a month ago when we sat down, the Deputy Prime Minister and I, with the Deputy Premier and the Premier of New South Wales to see how we could fast-track important water infrastructure projects in New South Wales. I was very pleased to get that collaboration and that cooperation, and the urgency that the New South Wales Premier was going to bring to this task, not only to bring their resources to these projects but to bring their commitment to blast away the bureaucracy and the congestion of regulation that would prevent those projects from going ahead. So we're very happy to partner in the way we have. We took a $75 million commitment for just one of those projects to about $280 million in direct grant assistance, and that is a very significant increase on the commitment that we've made for important water infrastructure.

I was up there on the weekend with the Deputy Prime Minister and the member for New England, and we heard the local mayor talk about just how important for the Peel Valley region this was going to be—to guarantee investment into the future and the future of that town. Drought or no drought, the investment in this water infrastructure is important for the future of rural and regional Australia. As tough as our grazing and farming communities, and the towns that depend on their success, are doing it, they are also constantly raising with us issues of the longer-term financial sustainability and viability of those towns into the future—the future of rural and regional Australia.

That's why we have taken the initiative to set up the House inquiry into this very matter and hear about the exciting ideas that Australians have, throughout rural and regional Australia, to secure their future. We're backing them in with better trade agreements, lower taxes and investing in important infrastructure—not just with water but with transport as well. We'll continue to do it, because, on this side of the House, we believe in the future of rural and regional Australia. Last night I was at the NFF dinner, and I heard about issue after issue that our farmers have fought for over the last 40 years. On every single occasion, we were on their side. On so many other occasions, those on the opposite side were battling against our farmers. Not on this side of the House—we are for rural and regional Australians.

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