Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 6 and 7 February I had the pleasure of hosting Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development the Hon. Jamie Briggs and Minister for Finance Senator the Hon. Mathias Cormann in my electorate of Durack. This was a highly successful trip, where the ministers were able to gain a better understanding of the important infrastructure facilities and services that the Durack electorate encompasses. This included visiting various resource projects in Karratha, including Woodside's Pluto LNG and North West Shelf projects, Rio Tinto's Dampier port facilities and CITIC Pacific's magnetite mine. The ministers were also provided with the opportunity to visit and gain an insight into the importance of the Port Hedland port, which is Australia's largest port by annual throughput.

Although it was important for the ministers to see the value of infrastructure investment in Durack, this visit was also an opportunity for Minister Briggs to officially announce the delivery of a key coalition election promise: $480 million in funding for road infrastructure projects in Durack was announced by Minister Briggs, Minister Cormann and me in Karratha. It is all part of the Abbott led government's Infrastructure Investment Program, which will commit nearly $4 billion to roads in Western Australia over the coming years. The funding included $307 million to upgrade Great Northern Highway and $174 million to upgrade North West Coastal Highway between Minilya and Barradale. My thanks go to the ministers for their visit, and I look forward to showing off Durack to both again in the future.