Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to be a part of a government that continues to deliver for regional, rural and remote Australia. It is in these parts of the country that we grow food and fibre, and mine the resources that build schools, hospitals, roads and inner-city places. Most importantly, it is an amazing place to raise your family—whether it's the sense of community or just living under the brilliant stars of the southern sky. The investment in regional, rural and remote Australia is critical to the wellbeing of this nation more broadly.

Among a number of other things, appropriation bills Nos 3 and 4 contribute to the Morrison-McCormack government's heavy investment into rural and regional Australia. I'd like to touch on a few of the things I am most excited about that have made the most significant change to our communities. The first one is the Building Better Regions Fund, an additional round of new funding of $200 million. In round 5, $100 million was allocated to tourism related infrastructure, while maintaining an additional $100 million for broader community infrastructure and investment, bringing the total investment in this program to $1 billion from 2017-18 to 2023-24. The BBRF supports regional and remote communities by funding investment-ready infrastructure projects that create jobs, that drive economic growth. It funds new or expanded events, strategic regional plans or leadership and capability-strengthening activities that provide economic and social benefits to these regions. Local governments and incorporated not-for-profit organisations are eligible to apply.

In Queensland we have the Qantas Founders Museum and the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs in Winton. Longreach and Winton are just two examples of communities that have built world's best practice, world's best assets. If you haven't been to Longreach or Winton to see those incredible exhibits then you have missed out on something. I urge you to hire a car or book a plane and get out there. Whatever way you can get there, get there.

The next one is the Regional Recovery Partnerships—$100 million of new funding over two years from 2020 to 2021. The partnerships will coordinate investment with other levels of government to support recovery and growth in 10 regions: the Snowy Mountains, Hunter and Newcastle and Parkes regions in New South Wales; Cairns and Tropical North Queensland, Gladstone and the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday regions in Queensland; the Gippsland region in Victoria; Kangaroo Island in South Australia; the south-west region of Western Australia; and all of Tasmania. The partnerships seek to back in existing regional plans by developing targeted initiatives with contributions from all levels of government to deliver jobs, economic recovery and economic diversification.

For the Stronger Communities Program there is $22.7 million in new funding in round 6. The SCP provides funding of up to $150,000 in each of the 151 federal electorates. Members of the House of Representatives will continue to use their roles to identify key locally driven projects, with available funding of between $2,500 and $20,000 for eligible projects. In recognition of the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic on communities, applications submitted in round 6 by all incorporated not-for-profit organisations and/or incorporated trustees applying on behalf of a trust will be exempt from the normal 50 per cent co-funding requirement and will be able to apply for funding of up to 100 per cent of their eligible project costs. This is extraordinarily significant because we are talking about communities where the councils are required to provide key infrastructure and often have a very small ratepayer base to develop that from. The removal of the 50 per cent co-contribution at this time is an incredible acknowledgement of their challenges. In Queensland, differently to other states, shire councils have to provide things like sewerage. This is not a requirement in other states, and it means that in small and very remote communities, where there might be as few as 350 ratepayers across a vast area, the councils are required to maintain roads, sewerage and other amenities—pools, for example—that make such a difference to the lifestyle and livability of these remote and regional towns.

Guaranteeing Medicare: the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program infrastructure will receive $50.3 million in additional funding. The existing network of 16 university departments of rural health, which are funded under the RHMT Program, will be expanded. These networks provide training to students across a range of health disciplines, including nursing and allied health, and offer innovative learning opportunities in settings such as aged care, disability, rehabilitation services, child care, schools and community facilities as well as Aboriginal community controlled health services. This package provides for capital works as well as recurring funding. The capital works programs invest funding through purchases of housing for student accommodation and through building works to add teaching facilities to aged-care services. And, of course, last night we heard the Treasurer talk about additional commitments to supporting aged care across the nation. That's a really important announcement, because we know that, in regional communities, if there is not an aged-care facility then families end up moving away from those towns. Aged care is an important part for rural communities.

I could go on all day about the incredible announcements under so many of these packages. The Mobile Black Spot Program, the Building Strong, Resilient Regional Leaders initiative, the Recovery for Regional Tourism program—these are all incredibly important projects that go, as I said, towards the government's agenda of investing in the regions; investing in rural and regional communities; and, most importantly from my point of view, being a senator based in Townsville, investing in the northern Australian agenda. There have been a number of commitments that continue to build on the government's commitment to northern Australia, and I know that those commitments will be paid back to the Australian people, to Australian taxpayers, in spades. Examples are irrigation and agriculture projects, and mining projects that are facilitated by things like CopperString 2.0, a transmission line that will provide a connection for renewable projects as well as existing power infrastructure, allowing us to be connected in a reliable way and reducing electricity costs, one of the things that really cripple business in northern Australia.

In addition to those kinds of projects, the government has made financial commitments to local roads and community infrastructure. Local governments in Queensland benefited from the additional $202.4 million from January this year, 2021. These are critical projects, as I have already touched on, because local government is—dare I say it—the most important level of government in this nation, the one that is closest to communities and understands the real challenges of living in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia.

Most exciting, particularly for those of us who live in the far north, is the commitment to water projects. Within Queensland itself, the Australian government has committed more than $516 million to 28 water infrastructure projects through the $3.5 billion National Water Infrastructure Development Fund. The investments include $176 million to build the $352 million dollar Rookwood Weir project, $42 million to build the $84 Emu Swamp Dam and $11.6 million to modernise the $28 million Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme, which provides more than 8,000 megalitres in new water for irrigators, creates more than 260 jobs and boosts the value of production annually by $20 million. In that region, the incredible agricultural blossoming that's happened since the construction of the dam in that region now measures around half a billion dollars of produce each year. If you haven't been to Mareeba, I encourage you to get there. Visit the deli that showcases regional produce. It is a wonderful community that highlights a diverse range of peoples that came to this country during the development of that region.

There is $790,000 towards the $1.58 million Warwick recycled water project, which supports drought resilience by supplying recycled water for primary producers. Importantly, in the north there has also been $30 million to support the construction of the Big Rocks Weir. This is only a relatively small water project. It's 10,000 megalitres, but it will change the community of Charters Towers because it provides not only security for town water supply but also additional irrigation water for the irrigators in that region. Sadly, despite the community supporting this project for at least 30 years, despite the council being a proponent, despite the urgent need for commitment to water security for that town, unfortunately, the Queensland government has now called it in to the Coordinator-General, and we will continue to play politics with a water project that is so small in the scheme of things but so important to town security for water supply that it really beggars belief that we should be still kicking this project around.

There's $180 million to support the construction of the Hughenden irrigation scheme, including $10 million provided for the completion of a detailed business case for the project. In addition, there's been $75 million to support the Queensland government, which is responsible for building these water projects. For any senators who don't understand the separation of power for water resource plans and water allocations, under the Constitution those are the states' responsibility to deliver. The federal government has delivered 22 feasibility studies, including $24 million for the Hells Gates Dam Project, which includes the Big Rocks Weir that I already spoke about, and $10 million each for the Urannah Dam and the Lakeland irrigation area business case projects.

These projects are critical because in the north part of Australia we receive metres of rain each year—rain that is not captured or managed and that would allow us to develop the sorts of crops in agricultural precincts where Australia is known as leading the world: the trial crops that have been run by the CSIRO and the departments in new cropping varieties, including existing crops such as cotton, which now uses less and less water and less and less pesticide and fertiliser. It is recognised now as a fibre that is fully traceable and the product that we should be wearing as a completely renewable product. In North Queensland we have the opportunity to grow vast amounts of this product in both dry land and areas like Etta Plains around Julia Creek or further north, up around Mount Garnet and in that region.

In Georgetown recently, at the terrific forum organised by the Etheridge Shire Council and Mayor Barry Hughes, there was a great discussion of CSIRO's work, also funded by the federal government, that had demonstrated the availability of suitable water, land and sunshine, and of course the demand for our products that are recognised as world's best. This is an opportunity for Queensland and North Queensland to be developing, because we know that in these parts of Australia, regional, rural and remote, we grow the food and fibre and we dig out the resources, but, most importantly, we have innovative, exciting communities that are a great place to raise a family and to live.