Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to be able to talk about the extraordinary importance of northern Australia to the social and economic fabric of this nation. Those opposite will probably not be surprised to hear that northern Australia has been hit really hard by the COVID pandemic, and nobody would understand that better than many of our National Party colleagues at the other end of the chamber, some of whom actually live in that region.

That's why this budget had a raft of measures to support people living in northern Australia. In fact, we have invested more than $4.15 billion in new initiatives to create jobs and accelerate economic recovery from COVID-19 in the northern part of our country. We're also investing more than $3 billion in defence funding, through Senator Reynolds' portfolio, for our facilities in northern Australia. We will also ensure that northern Australia continues to play an absolutely pivotal role in the safety and security of all Australians.

We'll also continue to invest in the safe and efficient northern transport corridors, with a further $655 million investment in road infrastructure across the north of our country. This includes $120 million to upgrade the Carpentaria Highway in the Northern Territory, a road on which I've driven; $38 million for the Cape York community access road from Cooktown to Weipa, a road on which I've driven; $20.6 million for the Great Northern Highway from Broome to Kununurra, a road I have driven on as well. Furthermore, we've invested a further $124.5 million for mapping mineral resources in two high-potential corridors as part of the Exploring for the Future program. We are absolutely committed as a government, understanding the importance of the regions. We are backing people from northern Australia.