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

Thanks, Senator McMahon, for another very good question. The coalition government understands the COVID-19 pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on some sectors, regions and communities, including those heavily reliant on industries such as tourism and agriculture. This is why we are providing a $1 billion relief and recovery fund to support regions, communities and industry sectors that have been disproportionately affected. That is why yesterday we announced further infrastructure investments, which included $1.5 billion for roads. These roads packages include key investments that help rural and regional Australia, such as the beef roads in Northern Queensland and the Bussell Highway in Western Australia—roads which will form vital linkage points to ports and to our key markets. There is still a long way to go in recovering from this once-in-100-year global pandemic, but we are heading in the right direction and we will continue to do all that is necessary to ensure Australians and our rural and regional economies have the best possible opportunity to return to prosperity. (Time expired)