Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My comments are directed to Minister McVeigh, but I thank the Minister for Small Business for being here today in his stead. While we can always do better, infrastructure spending in my electorate has been very pleasing. Since the last budget, we've seen the completion of the Albany tourist bureau redevelopment project, where there was a $997,000 contribution from the Commonwealth government. I was at the opening of the Manjimup wellness centre with over 250 people just the other week, where there was another $350,000 contribution from the Commonwealth government, leveraging about $1.5 million of investment.

The Yeerakine Lodge in Kondinin, a wonderful little facility caring for aged people in that area, has received $600,000 from the Commonwealth government, and that project is moving towards completion. The Pingelly recreation centre, which has received $3.5 million from the Commonwealth government, is a very unique project—a rec centre built completely out of wood; no steel whatsoever. It's going to be a remarkable piece of architecture, and I congratulate the Pingelly shire and the community on the work that they've done.

A particular favourite project of mine is the Nyabing community hub—I know they've pulled down the old hotel in Nyabing, which they will replace with a new licensed venue that will also have coffee shops, and offices for visiting specialists and businesspeople. That's a contribution from the Commonwealth government of $825,000, but the other 50 per cent has been contributed by funds raised by the community.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:46 to 11:57

The big infrastructure project across my electorate that's got me and the people of the northern goldfields very excited about is the Outback Way. This road links Laverton in the goldfields of Western Australia to Winton in western Queensland. It's 2,700 kilometres long. It's referred to as Australia's longest short cut. There are about 1,200 kilometres of bitumen and 1,600 kilometres that still need sealing. When that road's sealed it will link Perth and Cairns and will become a new inland freight route. It will also be very much used by tourists and the increasing numbers of grey nomads who spend the winter months on the road.

On top of the $38 million that the Commonwealth government invested in the Outback Way in the 2016 budget we've announced $160 million in the 2018 budget. I know that the shire president of Laverton, my dear friend Patrick Hill, is very excited about that. And they're doing their bit. They're laying blacktop at the rate of about $270,000 a kilometre, which is an extraordinary effort in a very remote region. They're doing a fantastic job of getting that road sealed as quickly as possible.

My electorate of O'Connor is predominantly a mining and agriculture one. The mining industry contributes over $11 billion to the economy, mainly based on gold but increasingly nickel, lithium and cobalt, the products that are riding the new battery-technology wave. It's been an incredibly rich area. We celebrated the 125th anniversary of the discovery of gold on the weekend, but we still need to explore for new resources. That's where the GPS technology that I'm about to ask the minister about comes into play. Automated vehicles, increasingly technological prospecting and surveying, and mapping rehabilitation are all very important issues for the mining industry, in relation to GPS. Agriculture, which is my industry, my first love, produces about $4.7 billion worth of product out of my electorate. They're mainly broadacre crops—wheat, barley and canola. As technology is improving, GPS technology is becoming absolutely crucial for the industry.

Minister, I have three questions for you. Firstly, in the recent budget, the government committed $260 million to developing satellite technology for GPS, or global positioning system, technology. Where is this money going to be spent? Can you please tell me more about the Satellite-Based Augmentation System and the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability and what their benefits are? Finally, can you please tell me how the $37 million that the government has committed to Digital Earth Australia will be spent?

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