Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister outline to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government plans to deliver infrastructure projects creating jobs in the regional and remote areas of Australia, in particular ensuring critical infrastructure in the Northern Territory?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question, and I always note the work he did in bringing about Rookwood Weir with the member for Capricornia. But it doesn't just stop there. There is the Epping floodway, to get the Bruce Highway going north—that was about a $100 million deal, and I remember the work the member for Flynn was doing on that. If you go out to Gracemere, you go out on a new road from Rockhampton. Gracemere is an incredible saleyard and an incredible part of the commerce of Central Queensland. Yet again, the member for Flynn and the member for Capricornia, who's not with us today, were absolutely instrumental in that.

More to the point is what we are doing away from the site of this building. In fact, 1,600 kilometres north-west of Brisbane is the town of Boulia, with 300 people. The coalition government has been investing in the Outback Way, from Winton to Laverton. You can go from Winton to Boulia on a sealed road. You can go from Boulia 140 kilometres west on a sealed road; in fact, it's only a further 70 kilometres to the Northern Territory border. We have been working very closely with, and we always know the champion of this road is, former councillor and former mayor of Alice Springs Damien Ryan. He is a champion of Lingiari. He is a champion of the Outback Way. He is making sure that we drive this agenda forward. The CSIRO say that the traffic at Boulia will increase by 225 per cent. We know of transport companies that will make Boulia their base, bringing jobs out west. There will be jobs all the way through.

But it goes beyond the work of former councillor Damien Ryan; it also goes to Jacinta Price. What an incredible person she is. What an incredible champion for the Northern Territory she is. I was speaking to Jacinta Price just before I came in here, saying, 'What are the things that are important there?' She went through aged care, obviously, and talked about the investment the coalition is doing in defence and how important that infrastructure is.

She also mentioned some bad roads—roads in excess of 20 kilometres, where, over the last 50 years, nothing has happened. She talked about the road from Alice Springs to Santa Teresa, and she said how work needed to be done on that. She talked about the road from Alice Springs to Kintore, and the work that needed to be done on that. And she knows there's only one side of government that she can be a part of that will ever look after the people of the outback and that will ever look after the people of Lingiari.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lingiari will withdraw that remark.

He can now withdraw from the chamber.

The member for Lingiari then left the chamber.