Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all those senators who have contributed to this debate. It's disappointing given that in the fine print I think I might have heard Senator Sterle right at the end say that he is actually going to support the bill that he spent 20 minutes having a crack at. This speech that you've just heard was, sadly, another demonstration of the disappointing attitude and the disingenuous attitude that Labor has taken to this important measure.

Labor senators have sought to create the impression that the additional funding into projects to support increased and improved drought resilience in rural and regional communities is the only thing we're doing to support Australians and, in particular, farmers impacted by the drought, that's of course not true. This measure in this legislation, the establishment of the Future Drought Fund, comes on top of about $2 billion in additional measures that we've previously announced. And we've announced significant enhancements to the Farm Household Allowance arrangements, for example, also in the wake of the drought.

If you listened to Senator Sterle's contribution in isolation—Senator Watt was the same, and I hate to say it but even my valued colleague the Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, the senator for the ACT, was the same—you'd think that somehow our support for drought affected communities will only start on 1 July 2020, that is not true and it's entirely disingenuous. I think it is very disappointing that you would seek to mislead rural communities across Australia to that effect in that way.

Then there was this false impression created that somehow we are ripping $3.9 billion in funding out of infrastructure. Instead of a $3.9 billion Building Australia Fund, we have a $100 billion infrastructure investment pipeline, much of which goes into much-needed infrastructure in rural and regional Australia. Again, this proposition that somehow we are reducing our commitment to infrastructure investment is completely and utterly false. Labor knows this to be false and they're deliberately creating a false impression.

This Future Drought Fund will give farmers in rural and regional communities, which have been suffering years of unrelenting drought, the tools they need to prepare for, manage and sustain their businesses. This Future Drought Fund will grow from $3.9 billion to $5 billion over the next decade, while facilitating a $100 million a year additional investment into drought resilience and preparedness, even in the good years, every year from 1 July 2020.

We're doing the same in relation to the Medical Research Future Fund. The Medical Research Future Fund is facilitating the Commonwealth to double its investment in medical research by creating a revenue stream, which means that additional investment is fiscally sustainable. It will not detract from our budget bottom line over the medium and long term and that is very good financial management.

We have taken a $3.9 billion capital fund which lay dormant—which had a very low return because of the way the Labor Party decided to invest that capital when they were in government—and through the change in investment mandate we will ensure that it will get a better return, which means that it is projected that the capital will grow from $3.9 billion to $5 billion over a decade, while also dispersing $100 million every year in additional funding to support additional projects in a way that is fiscally sustainable. That is, as I say, good financial management.

Despite the games and the disingenuous rhetoric—and then in the fine print saying that they actually will support this very important initiative—that Labor has displayed here in recent days this is a very important initiative to support rural communities across Australia.

The consultative committee, should this legislation pass the parliament, will soon begin engaging with farmers in rural and regional communities to ensure the money is well spent when the additional funding becomes available from next year. The government will work swiftly to establish the Future Drought Fund Consultative Committee and put in place all of the appropriate, rigorous governance arrangements for the appropriate selection and prioritisation of projects.

I say it again: this measure comes on top of about $2 billion in additional support that we have already directed into drought affected communities across Australia. To go back to the $100 million infrastructure investment pipeline under our government, about a third of that—about $33 billion—is going directly into infrastructure in rural and regional Australia. Here we've got Labor senators suggesting that, somehow—by directing a $3.9 billion low-income-earning infrastructure investment fund, which had been lying dormant, into facilitating additional investment into projects to improve drought resilience across Australia—we're doing the wrong thing by rural infrastructure. Well, actually, we have committed about $33 billion in additional investment into infrastructure in rural and regional communities.

There is a whole range of questions that have been raised, which I'm sure we can address in the committee stages, but for the purpose of this summing up speech, let me say that I commend this bill to the Senate and I hope that it will get broad support.