Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for his questions. He knows that when the regions are strong so too is Australia. He's championed this his entire senatorial career.

Regional Australia produces over 30 per cent of our GDP and 70 per cent of our exports and drives the wealth production across our nation. The Liberal-National government's focus on returning the budget to surplus for the first time in more than a decade means that we can invest further in the areas that Australians care about. There will be additional tax relief to support hardworking regional Australians—the public school teachers, the nurses, the tradies in our communities—with more than $1,000 of their hard-earned dollars back in their pockets because of our changes. This will help, no matter where we live.

We are investing to help people get home to their families safer and sooner, connecting our regions as part of our record $100 billion investment in our nation's infrastructure. This will help manage our growing population, improve freight and transport routes for our fabulous fresh produce, connect communities and reduce traffic accidents and fatalities.

Returning the budget to surplus is not an abstract concept; it produces real benefits and outcomes for people right across the country. No longer an abstract construct in this country will be fast rail. We have put $2 billion on the table to connect Melbourne to Geelong. We've also invested in developing eight business cases to connect east coast regional capitals with the regions. The budget surplus also allows us to invest in the Building Better Regions Fund to improve and support growth and local jobs in our regional community. It also means we're able to invest in our young people, so critical to our prosperity, and to support them with vocational training, apprenticeships and, in times of difficulty, mental health, sport and suicide-prevention programs. This is what real fiscal— (Time expired)