Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge Kay Catanzariti in the public gallery and acknowledge what she's doing for workplace safety.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

No need for that, member for Ballarat. I thank the member for Dawson for his question. Yesterday we heard encouraging reports from the Treasurer about our economic comeback from the COVID-19 global pandemic. As a government we are supporting businesses to create and to maintain jobs. In the member's electorate of Dawson, 4,200 businesses have accessed JobKeeper and more than 17,000 are eligible for the instant asset write-off measure which has made such a difference to so many small businesses across our nation.

Australia's consumer confidence is clear and evident in our GDP increase of 3.3 per cent over the last quarter. By investing in infrastructure—$110 billion, a record amount—over the next decade, we're getting on with the job of making sure that our regional communities in particular have connectivity, we're busting through congestion in our capital cities and we're making our nation what it needs to be.

Since the establishment of the National Water Grid Authority we have completed five water infrastructure projects, and we're getting on with building a whole lot more. One of the projects we are now planning for is the Urannah dam in the member's electorate. This project will be capable of delivering water to an irrigation precinct up to 25,000 hectares. The member for Dawson knows how important that is, and so do we.

Ms Butler interjecting—

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