Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

This budget places regional Australia at the heart of our national recovery, and rightly so when one considers that it has been regional Australia—our farmers, our food producers, our food processors, our miners, our regional small businesses—that have certainly done the heavy lifting during COVID-19. Our agriculture sector alone has gone from contributing $60 billion to our economy to contributing $66 billion in the past 12 months, and we've just posted a record in rural exports, as the member for Flynn knows. Strengthening our economy, creating jobs, landmark infrastructure investments, guaranteeing essential services, building our capability as a nation are the hallmarks of this budget. We want to ensure that government, industry, research and education—all of those sectors—have a shared vision to drive the success of our regions and future economic prosperity. The Australian government is overseeing a historic amount of investment in the regions, in recognition of their strategic importance to our nation and to reflect the fact that increasing numbers of Australians are choosing to make a new life and home in regional Australia because of the unparalleled lifestyle opportunities. We've heard from the Deputy Prime Minister about the historic spend in regional infrastructure across all aspects of regional life, whether it be transport infrastructure, health and digital connectivity or supporting local business leaders.

One of the facets of this pandemic has been the great awakening by people in the cities about what lies over the Great Dividing Range, or the 'sandstone curtain', as we like to call it in the central west of New South Wales. In 1851, when gold was discovered at Ophir, just outside Orange, there was a huge emptying of Sydney as its people crossed the mountains. Ships were abandoned in Sydney Harbour and there was one long line of humanity crossing the mountains to the goldfields. Last year a net 43,000 people moved to the regions from the cities. The year before the number was 19,000, so it has more than doubled. We are seeing a greater migration today from the cities to the country than we did back in the days of the gold rush. So earlier this week, for example, the deputy PM and I inspected the site for the $2.03 billion boost to the Great Western Highway. This is a huge project for our area, and it is a project very close to the hearts of the people of the central west. We know how congested that road is getting. Normally, the trip from Sydney to Orange takes about 3½ hours. Over Easter it took my two daughters nine hours-plus to get home, and everyone in our area has a horror story like that.

That's why it's so important to get projects like this up and running and moving. There'll be shovels ready and sods turned next year because projects like this bridge that great divide between the city and the country, reducing travel times and making the roads safer. Also, by forming the key links between city and country, we help to built capacity in regional Australia—in this case, central western New South Wales—and we set our regions up for jobs, we set them up for growth and we set them up for prosperity. This is on top of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, which has seen millions and millions of dollars allocated for upgrades. In my electorate, it is more than $8 million and, in the current financial year, $38 million over the forward estimates. These projects are critical to our future and our prosperity, and they help support the liveability in our regions.

As part of the budget, we're also investing $50 million, through round 6 of the Building Better Regions Fund, to build community, workplace and innovation hubs across regional Australia. This has been very warmly received across the regions. These hubs will deliver jobs and significantly help to boost local investment and bring a range of benefits to small businesses, remote workers, community organisations and travelling professionals alike. Obviously, we'll also be supporting the relocation of public sector jobs to our regions through our cross-agency task force, which was also delivered through this budget. This budget delivers for regional Australia, and long may it continue.

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