Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

This budget has delivered for regional Australia like no other budget. I know that is embarrassing for the National Party who, when they were in coalition, never managed to deliver what a Labor government with this parliament has delivered last night. I can understand why Senator Joyce might feel a little embarrassed about that issue. an I go through some of the many investments in regional Australia that the government is putting in place. There is a $4.3 billion investment in health, education and infrastructure initiatives for the benefit of regional Australians. One of those is, as the senator would know, the Health and Hospitals Fund where there is a commitment of $1.8 billion, of which $1.3 billion was delivered last night. There were a great many regional hospitals and other health investments out of that $1.3 billion fund for Queensland and for states and territories all around Australia. I hope that the coalition will be supportive of those investments in regional health programs. In addition, the government is delivering a $500 million investment in the regional priorities round of the Education Investment Fund to support capital investments in regional higher education and vocational education. So they are amongst the $4.3 billion worth of investments in regional Australia delivered under this government and in this budget.

The senator should also be aware of the Regional Development Australia Fund. That was referred to last night and has previously been announced by Minister Crean. So this is a government that has not only delivered on its commitments to the Independents; more importantly, it has delivered on its commitments to regional Australia and delivered on— (Time expired)