Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker, Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

That's right—a very important road out of Blayney that will be funded under this program. But I'd like to give a shout-out to one of the councils in my electorate, Brewarrina council, which have used their money to fund road safety measures, including rest stops and improved access for heavy vehicles on the Goodooga Road. What's interesting about Brewarrina council is that 85 per cent of Brewarrina's population is Indigenous and 85 per cent of Brewarrina council's workforce are local Aboriginal people. Local people from Goodooga are constructing roads and infrastructure through the program. It follows on from the great work that they did up at Goodooga on their bore baths, which was funded under the Drought Communities Program.

The sector has been very pleased with the government's response. The president of the Australian Local Government Association, David O'Loughlin, commended the Treasurer's announcement of a further billion-dollar investment in local roads and community infrastructure. Mr O'Loughlin is quoted as saying:

We said that financing shovel-ready projects in local government areas would help ward off recession by stimulating businesses and creating jobs across the country, delivering long-term benefits to the nation in the process.

And:

The financing of infrastructure projects in local government areas will create jobs, provide support for local businesses, and provide new hope to local communities that have done it tough for nine months or more …

I endorse those comments.

As a former mayor, I'm very proud of the Australian local government sector, the 537 councils across Australia that have really stepped up not only in the efficient way that they're delivering this $1½ billion in stimulus but in the innovative ways that they've supported their communities through the pandemic by redeploying some underutilised staff to deliver meals on wheels in the initial days when a lot of those programs were at risk because of health concerns for the elderly volunteers. This government is committed to supporting local government. We're very pleased with the fact that local government have done their bit to deliver the stimulus.

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