Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

We are not standing still. We are building on those investments we've already made in beef roads and northern Australian roads. In Western Australia I recently announced an additional $160 million to continue to seal the Outback Way. We've made a commitment to seal the Outback Way over the next decade. That's a stretch of road from Winton in western Queensland through to Laverton in Western Australia. Once it is sealed it will be only the third sealed route across our continent. It's a big country. It's great to see us investing in projects that help develop and connect our nation east-west, not just north-south.

We've also in the budget announced a further $1.5 billion for roads in northern Australia over the next decade under the Roads of Strategic Importance program. That will build on the work of the beef roads program and the Northern Australia Roads Program to invest in roads that can help boost the economic productivity of northern Australia, including in the agricultural sector and other sectors. I know that there are many people and councils here this week for their national conference who are very excited about these projects. We will continue to work with northern Australians for many years to help that part of the country.