Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

In good news for Australia, the trade bills have just passed in the Senate. Much of our infrastructure—indeed, all of our infrastructure—is predicated on the fact that we're getting these trade arrangements organised with trading partners. We need to get product to port and then port to overseas countries quicker. That's what we're doing, such as with the Echuca-Moama bridge. That particular piece of infrastructure, where we've now provided an additional $28.7 million in the electorate of the member for Nicholls, is going to ensure the safer passage of product to port and then on to some of those countries with which we've just arranged, in the Senate, more bilateral trading relationships. So well done to the Senate! Well done to the parliament! This is delivery in action. This is what the Liberals and Nationals do. This is what we promised on 18 May and this is what we are delivering to the people, particularly in regional communities. They're doing it tough at the moment with the drought. They need better infrastructure.

That's why, last week, we brought forward a considerable amount of infrastructure—billions of dollars. We've got a $100 billion infrastructure rollout across this nation. It includes such projects as the $14½ million commitment to the Mitiamo water supply scheme. I know how important that is for Nicholls, I know how important it is for rural Victoria and I know how important it is for the committee chair of the Mitiamo project, Neil Allen. He and so many other farmers in that region turned up to that windswept football oval when we announced it, and they were absolutely delighted. They knew that for many decades they'd fought for water security. They knew that for many decades they'd fought for better outcomes for infrastructure in their rural Victorian region. And the member for Nicholls delivered, as he always does. He's a good member. He, like all of us—over on that side too—are going to enjoy the benefits of the $100 billion infrastructure rollout that we are doing over the next decade.

We've brought a lot of it forward at the request of state governments, and they're not all Liberal and National state governments. Some of them are Labor governments. They've put their priority projects forward, and we've answered that call. We're getting shovels in the ground. We're getting excavators behind those projects. More broadly, there are 130 major government funded projects under construction across the country. The benefit of that is that it's supporting 85,000 jobs—85,000 people are in work because of the $100 billion infrastructure rollout.

We're prioritising projects in metropolitan cities—I appreciate that the urban infrastructure minister is doing a good job in that regard—and particularly in regional Australia. They're doing it tough with bushfires, doing it tough with drought, but they're still resilient enough to know that this infrastructure rollout is going to help them. It will rain again. The good times are ahead and, when they are, that infrastructure's going to be in place to benefit all of Australia. (Time expired)

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

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