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

In my previous answer, I talked about the COVID recession. If there's one project in the infrastructure space that's helping us build out of the COVID recession, it is the Inland Rail. I know it is important for the member in her seat in Victoria, and I will get to the specifics of her question in a short while. For the Narromine-to-Parkes section, the first section of the Inland Rail, 99 businesses have benefited to the tune of $110 million. That's delivery. I know the member is particularly interested in the fact that we've allocated more money to the rollout of Inland Rail. That was necessary because it's gone from, in many parts, a desktop analysis and the design work right through to actual delivery where there's more connection with roadways and there's more necessity to provide those separations. The initial outlay for Inland Rail has been increased. That's because we've seen the additional scope required and, as a good government, we've sensibly budgeted for it. That's what you'd expect a good government to do, of course, and we've done that with full engagement of the local communities.

In the member's state, the Inland Rail is going to deliver an expected $8 billion boost to Victoria's gross state product—

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