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

I thank the member for Cowper for his question. Last night we announced in the budget an additional $1 billion for the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. For the member for Cowper, for the five councils that he either has wholly and solely in his fine Mid North Coast electorate or indeed shares with the tremendous members for Page and Lyne, we see considerable uplift in the amount of money that they are going to get to spend on local roads and community infrastructure: Bellingen Shire gets an additional $1.1 million; Coffs Harbour City Council, finely represented by the mayor there, Denise Knight, $2.7 million; Kempsey Shire—and we were there recently at the community hub, a project which is going to make such a difference for the social outcomes of that great place—$2.3 million; Nambucca Valley, $1.5 million; and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council—and we caught up with Peta Pinson as well—$3.6 million.

Last night's announcement was for the 537 councils across Australia but, for those in Cowper, there was $11.4 million. That takes the total for those five councils to $26.9 million. That's a significant investment in not only their shires but also infrastructure right throughout Cowper. For example, the Coffs Harbour bypass is changing the landscape of the member's electorate. It's taking 12,000 vehicles out of the town centre each day. That is so significant. The Commonwealth has allocated $1.46 billion for the 14-kilometre bypass of Coffs. There are currently 53 active contracts on the project. What they are all doing is creating jobs, creating opportunities and creating investment, making procurement for those small businesses around Coffs Harbour. Of the 12,000 jobs across the life of this project, 2,000 are going to be in Coffs Harbour.

Indeed, the infrastructure budget announced by the Treasurer last night has $15.2 billion of new project commitments. But don't just take my word for it. Chris Melham—I know he's known to many of those opposite—CEO of the Civil Contractors Federation, said, 'Investing in civil infrastructure projects generates jobs, boosts business confidence and underpins economic growth.' That is what he said, and he is right. Certainly regional Australia is a big beneficiary of the infrastructure budget announced last night, including the 10-year Infrastructure Investment Pipeline Program and the 30,000 additional jobs on top of the 100,000. This $110 billion of infrastructure is supporting Australians right throughout the economy—and certainly, as I say again, in those country areas. (Time expired)

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