Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was great to hear the member for Gilmore acknowledging the delivery by the Liberals and the Nationals in government. I certainly know that when I took over as Deputy Prime Minister and minister for infrastructure, amongst other things in that financial year there was a $50 billion infrastructure rollout. When I left in June there was $110 billion, because I knew that we needed the infrastructure rollout right across the nation to revitalise the nation, to give it that impetus, particularly through the bushfires—and I acknowledge that the member for Eden-Monaro has just joined us in the chamber—through COVID-19 and through everything else that has beset this nation in recent years. The infrastructure program supports 100,000 workers, whether it is in projects like Adelaide River to Wadeye, Alice Springs to Darwin, Alice Spring to Halls Creek, Cairns to Northern Territory border, Cooktown to Weipa, Karratha to Tom Price, Mount Isa to Rockhampton, Newman to Katherine, Northern Territory gas industry road upgrades, Tennant Creek to Townsville or Townsville to Roma.

There are also infrastructure programs in southern Australia: Ballarat to Ouyen, Barton Highway, Cockburn to Burrup, Echuca to Robinvale, Great Northern Highway, Bindoon Bypass, Green Triangle, Hobart to Sorell, Melbourne to Mildura, Port Augusta to Perth, Renmark to Gawler—we're getting to South Australia now, member for Grey—Stawell to the South Australian border, the Tasmanian roads package with its many projects. In New South Wales we have Tenterfield to Newcastle. In Queensland we have Toowoomba to Ipswich and Toowoomba to Seymour, taking in the Newell Highway. We have the Wheatbelt Secondary Freight Network, which the member for O'Connor mentioned. There are so many Roads of Strategic Importance initiatives—so many. I know that this can only happen when the Liberals and Nationals are in government.

Last week I spoke about a Brisbane based ALP federal member bemoaning the fact that we were putting bitumen on unsealed roads. Unfortunately, this is an example of what we hear from those opposite, particularly those opposite in metropolitan seats who don't understand the vast road networks in regional, rural and most specifically remote Australia. But they also don't understand that those local government areas, those regions, punch well above their weight when it comes to economic output, particularly in beef and grain production. They produce so much and they deserve a good road network—they deserve the best road network. They deserve that connectivity, they deserve those safety aspect that only programs like the ROSI can implement, and that is why it has become such an important part of the overall national infrastructure rollout in this nation in recent years. I'm proud of the ROSI and what it's been able to do. I'm also proud of those people who've been able to increase their productivity as a result of the ROSI.

I spoke to a fellow in a remote Western Australian mining company who told me that just by putting bitumen on part of the Outback Way—and the object is to get the entire Outback Way completely sealed—70 kilometre or so, was going to boost his company's productivity by hours upon hours upon hours, because they wouldn't have to go over those corrugated unsealed sections at very low speed while trying not to tip the heavy excavation equipment and mining gear off the back of the truck. They have to drive carefully on those roads, and that's just one small example of the huge benefit of ROSI and other programs, which are only put in place by the Liberals and Nationals. The ROSI has brought benefits to this country and its the regions, particularly those in remote Australia. No-one understands regional Australia quite like this bloke over here, the member for Grey, and he'll tell you. He'll extol the virtues of not just ROSI but all the road programs that we have put in place for those farmers, for those miners, for those people who choose to live in regional Australia. Why shouldn't they have roads in remote Australia that are just as good as the roads we have in Kingston or Barton or anywhere else in the Australian capital? I see members nodding and I thank them—and someone is even ringing me to tell me what a great speech this is. ROSI is so important, and everybody in this chamber agrees. We will not only have this program in place for years to come but invest more in it in the future.

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