Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I too mark the anniversary of the occasion two years ago when the coalition government was elected. I have to say, after sitting in here for two terms in opposition under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, it has indeed been a wonderful change to be part of a government that cares about regional Australia. And it is very pleasing to be part of a government that has a clear plan, a plan to build a prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia.

I have been working very hard over the electorate of Parkes, which is a third of New South Wales, to do my bit in implementing this plan. There are a few examples that I would like to mention that have come to fruition in the last couple of years. As part of the government's $50 billion infrastructure program to improve road and rail links, reduce travel times and support economic growth and safety on our roads, we have seen extra money go into programs like Roads to Recovery, where $1.105 billion has been made available to councils right across Australia for road upgrades. And the 17 councils in the Parkes electorate are very pleased to have this.

This morning the shadow minister for infrastructure was saying that he has seen nothing done. It is probably because he has not looked. I am very proud to say that a couple of weeks ago we opened the Moree bypass stage 2. After being unfunded by the previous government for six years, and after money was squandered by the previous Labor government in New South Wales, the Moree bypass was opened 12 months early and under budget—a great example of good governance at the federal, state and local levels. That bypass will take 1,700 vehicles out of the main street of Moree every day. We have also seen the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, which has put $26 million into the Parkes electorate to help with safety for heavy vehicles. Perhaps the program closest to my heart is the Inland Rail program. With Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss appointing John Anderson to head up the implementation committee, we are very close to seeing the final implementation report of that committee and a clear way forward now for that wonderful piece of nation-building infrastructure to come to fruition. The $300 million that has gone towards that process has already seen some of the preliminary environmental and scoping work happening on that Inland Rail. I am very excited about the possibility of seeing this project come to fruition very soon.

Last week Minister Truss was in Dubbo for the launch of the $6½ million dollar upgrade to the Dubbo regional saleyards facilities under the National Stronger Regions Fund, with $3.29 million of that funded by the federal government. Those facilities will help cement and even grow Dubbo's position as the leading sale centre for both sheep and cattle in eastern Australia.

We have also seen a large amount of funds in my electorate going to the Bridges Renewal Program and the Black Spot Program to fix up dangerous black spots around the roads in my electorate. We have also seen support for drought communities through funding for farm families and, recently, the Drought Communities Program for Brewarrina and Walgett. There is the agriculture white paper and the $4 billion that is connected to that, which has brought big improvements to water infrastructure and farm management deposits for investment. Along with that, there are livestock markets that have been opened up the under the free trade agreements.