Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are four key things that the people who live in the electorate of Mallee really value. They want to be able to drive on a decent road. They want to be able to make a mobile phone call and have good telecommunications services. They want to have education opportunities for their children. And they want to make sure that, when they go to a hospital, they are going to be treated. These are very fundamental parts of our economy and our society.

I am really pleased that the federal government has committed significant resources to the Roads to Recovery Program. John Anderson, when he was Deputy Prime Minister, introduced the Roads to Recovery Program, where the federal government gives money direct to local government to build country roads. I am a strong believer that the closer you are to the delivery of the service the more efficient the spend. We, as an administration of federal government, could not even put pink batts in a roof very effectively. It is better that hospitals deliver health. It is better that local councils deliver road services. It has been something that has had bipartisan support for a very long time because the policy works.

A little while ago the federal government reintroduced the indexation of fuel and, as part of that reintroduction and the negotiations through the Senate, the decision was made that there would be a top up of Roads to Recovery funding in both the 2015-16 year and the 2016-17 year. In the electorate of Mallee, which has nine large shires—massive geographical areas to cover with roads—that equates to, instead of $10 million a year in Roads to Recovery, nearly $30 million. I want to put on the record here that it is my determination that in the future we should continue that level of funding for our country roads so that in the 2017-18 year, instead of dropping back to $10 million, we continue at that $30 million for our shires and so the triple allocation continues into the 2018-19 year. The indexation of fuel is going to stay, and an investment in country roads is ultimately an investment in the productivity and wealth of all Australians.

In the electorate of Mallee we produce in a normal year $5.2 billion worth of exports. All of that starts at the farm gate but has to drive down a dirt road before it gets onto the state roads and before it gets onto the national highways. It is my strong determination to fight for better country roads, and I hope that, in the spirit of bipartisanship, both sides of parliament will see the ongoing use of Roads to Recovery and continue to fund that for more into the forward estimates.