Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. The people of Indi were made a series of funding commitments by the government during the campaign. On 23 June, $10 million was announced for the Kiewa Valley Highway, the Great Alpine Road and the Rutherglen bypass and, on 3 June, $7.1 million for roads in Walwa and the Hume Highway at Mansfield, Eildon and Jamieson. Will the minister please outline the time line for the implementation of this funding?

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for her question. I appreciate her interest in the coalition's plan for jobs and growth and prosperity. For the information of new members, I can inform the House that the member for Indi is a purveyor of find tokay and Christmas cake, and I hope I get my invitation to the soiree later on this year. Can I also say that she also takes a very keen interest in coalition policy and the development of those policies. She was particularly interested in my frequent visits to her electorate during the election campaign. Admittedly, I was not always there in a supporting role, but, as the member for the neighbouring electorate, it is true that Albo had to build the Great Dividing Range to keep us apart.

I assure the member for Indi that all commitments that were made during the election campaign will be honoured and I know that she has a particular interest in our commitments to infrastructure and transport. We have had conversations about that. These commitments will be kept and they will be honoured, because we are government that does keep its promises. This is a Prime Minister who has committed to getting on with the job of delivering right across Australia—not just in our cities but also in our regional centres. The only way that any of these projects are to be delivered in the seat of Indi is for this side of the House to get on with the job of delivering, because those on the other side actually promised nothing for Indi—no mobile phone blackspots program, no constructive programs to help towns like Wangaratta, Wodonga, Bright and Rutherglen, nothing to help your community prosper in the future. It is this side of the chamber that is actually working with the member for Indi to deliver the projects that she is so interested in. The Turnbull-Joyce government has a $50 billion infrastructure investment program. As I said, it is not just in our cities; it is also in our regional centres. It is through our Roads to Recovery program, the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity program, the Black Spots program and, in particular, the issues that the member for Indi raised regarding the specific questions of—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Indi on a point of order.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question was: when.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You need to state the point of order.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is relevance: when is the money going to be delivered?

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said to the member for Indi, we are working very constructively right now with the Victorian government on the $1.5 billion Infrastructure Investment program that the Prime Minister helped negotiate earlier this year. For the information of members in this place, probably the most constructive thing they can do is to get on the phone to Premier Daniel Andrews and ask him to match the funding on a dollar-for-dollar basis. We have a $345 million package—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

which the member for Indi is relying on for the funding for the Kiewa Valley Highway and the Great Alpine Road. There is also the $10 million she referred to in relation to the bypass work required in Rutherglen. All of those projects will be delivered by this government on time, on budget and we are encouraging the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, to support us with a dollar-for-dollar investment. We understand, as the member for Indi understands, that, when you invest in good infrastructure you not only change people's lives, but you can save people's lives. Changing lives through reducing congestion, improving productivity and also saving lives through the investment in the engineering treatments which will improve safety on our road network.