Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am a bit slow off my feet today, but I am not slow to talk about the great township of Mildura and what the National Party, both state and federal, have been doing. The state National Party have delivered $10 million in natural gas to put energy into that town. The state government have now committed $220 million to take the products that we produce there down the rail and out to the port, and the federal government, in conjunction with a lot of hard work, are now going to deliver the $103 million project to modernise the irrigated infrastructure.

If we get the fundamentals right for a small country community, we can grow a small country community. So if we get gas, we get water and we get the ability to take what we produce out of the town, that is a great thing that we can achieve.

The other thing we are also doing is investing in the skills. In the federal budget we gave a strong commitment with trade support loans for apprenticeships. This is a great initiative, because our people need investment in their capacity, and that will then help them. Also, our government has not taken a backward step when it comes to trade. When we are producing products we need to have markets for them, and the markets that we have found in Japan and Korea through the free trade agreements will greatly assist our producers.

The National Party and the federal coalition are delivering on the fundamental infrastructure for jobs and growth in Mildura.