Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I too join in hoping you enjoy your last days in one of the touchiest times of the year in one of the most difficult jobs in Australia. I'd like to thank the honourable member for his question and note his political lifetime of work in supporting the Inland Rail and how important that is for our nation.

The Inland Rail, of course, is a clear icon of how the Nationals and the coalition are driving the growth of inland Australia with policies that will double the size of Parkes in the member for Riverina's seat and double the size of Narrabri in the member for Parkes's seat. This is a clear indication of how it will reach forward to places like Toowoomba, down to Albury and also into Melbourne, Brisbane and Goondiwindi. This is a policy that clearly describes to the Australian people how this side of the House has a vision for the future, a vision for the future that drives areas ahead and that gives the infrastructure for growth. This side of the House can clearly state that the billions of dollars that were required for this project came from the Expenditure Review Committee and the deliberations of cabinet, something that the Labor Party left behind. They do not have a vision for regional Australia. That vision on this side of the House continues on with such projects as the Outback Way, making sure that we progress the process of sealing the third road across our great nation. That is an item that shows vision.

The member for Parkes also asked about alternative policies. It's very hard to define a policy for regional Australia from the other side, from the Labor side, from the Labor and Greens side. They don't have one, or they might have one but they won't tell us about it. We've seen of late that they've become rather sneaky, charmingly sneaky, about not telling us about their legislation, such as the legislation they intend to bring forward with regard to climate policy.

Opposition members interje cting—

I don't know, but I know that they're very charming but they're very sneaky. This is very important for our side of the House, because we are the ones coming forward with the policies, whether it's for dams—we're actually building dams. The Labor Party—

Opposition members interjecting—

Rookwood Weir, the expansion of Chaffey Dam, Scottsdale Irrigation District—you don't even follow what we're doing, but we could take you to the Scottsdale Irrigation District in Tasmania and Rookwood Weir in Queensland. We could take you to Chaffey Dam, and the process goes on. For us to keep delivering, we must make sure it's a coalition government that leads the way.

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