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

I rise today to speak on what is affectionately known as Australia's longest shortcut, the Outback Way. This route links Laverton, in the northern Goldfields of Western Australia, to Winton, in Central West Queensland, cutting through the Red Centre. I today welcome Patrick Hill and the Outback Highway Development Council to Parliament House.

Since the late 1990s, this ambitious trans-Australian tourism route and essential freight artery has secured over $1 billion in federal, state and territory funding. The Outback Way will provide a shorter, more direct route for interstate freight movement, reducing reliance on the main southern corridor, strengthening supply chains and improving efficiency for industry. For outback communities, it will deliver food security, greater access to fresh produce and improved connectivity to health, education and social opportunity. It will also unlock tourism across the heart of Australia, supporting regional communities along the way. Industry recognises this. The Livestock and Rural Transporters Association has affirmed that the route will improve market access year round and enable the relocation of livestock during drought or flood.

Across much of the country, progress has been strong. In Queensland, the corridor has been effectively completed. In the Northern Territory, the Plenty Highway has been largely upgraded and key sections to tourist destinations such as Uluru are well maintained.

But the Western Australian corridor tells a very different story. Along 732 kilometres of this route in WA, progress remains stifled as funding sits unspent and bureaucracy continues at a glacial pace. In 2022, the Morrison government committed $678 million towards completing the remaining sections. This year, Main Roads WA pointed to official processes to gain agreements for the reallocation of land tenure and existing native title claims along the length of the corridor, but this cannot be used as an excuse for further delay. Native title considerations are not new, and they are not insurmountable. They are a standard part of developing major infrastructure projects in this country. There are stretches of this road that do not fall within any native title claims, and still no progress has been made. It's bureaucracy, it's delay, and it's failure to move from a commitment to the delivery.

With civil construction costs exploding since 2022, the cost of sealing the remainder will only continue to balloon while this project sits idle. Main Roads now suggests that completion may not occur until 2032, 10 years after key funding was announced. This is simply not good enough. So I ask: What is the updated cost of completing the Outback Way? Where is the allocated funding? Who will fund the shortfall? And when will we see action to cut through the bureaucracy that is holding this program back? For the communities along this route, this is not just a road; it is a lifeline to access the services— (Time expired)

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