Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senator for his question and for his tireless work for regional Queensland. I am absolutely delighted to stand up in this place and update the Senate on the many significant achievements of the Turnbull-Joyce government in regional Australia. We have established the new Building Better Regions Fund, which will deliver infrastructure and community investment right across our regional communities. We are delivering a $220 million Regional Jobs and Investment Package to create jobs and prosperity in regional economies. We have established a new ministerial task force for regional Australia, which will bring forward a long-term and more strategic approach to delivering the health, education, jobs, infrastructure and communications services that regional communities deserve.

To secure our energy needs we will be investing in the future with the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project. In infrastructure, we are investing $594 million to start the Inland Rail. We are investing $100 million in the Outback Way, which is indeed Australia's longest short cut. In health, we are delivering Australia's first ever National Rural Health Commissioner and $11 million for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. We are delivering a $300 million national ice package and $25 million for a new Dubbo cancer centre. In education we are investing $150 million for remote student access and $5 million to boost the number of Indigenous scholarships. In communications we have invested $220 million for new and upgraded mobile towers. We have expanded Sky Muster's capacity. We have expanded the fixed wireless footprint. We have prioritised the NBN rollout to regional areas, and we have $2 billion in concessional drought loans to support farm businesses. And we have $2.5 billion for national water infrastructure. And that is just the start.