David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his longstanding interests in infrastructure, particularly regional infrastructure. I am delighted to report to the Senate and especially to our new crossbench colleagues that this government's commitment to infrastructure is very strong and ever-continuing, and seeks to progress our great nation. The government has committed a record $50 billion to the infrastructure spend in this year's budget. Delivering modern infrastructure is a crucial part of the government's economic action strategy. The coalition has increased overall infrastructure spending by $16.4 billion between 2013-14 and 2018-19. Included in our budget is $11.6 billion for an infrastructure growth package for new infrastructure spending. Entirely new projects that were not funded by the previous Labor government will now be possible. These include the building of the Outback Way through Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia—and may I say the people of Laverton, Leonora and Kalgoorlie in my home state of Western Australia most certainly welcome that—the building of the Moree bypass stage 2 in New South Wales, the building of the Mount Barker interchange in South Australia and many other programs.

The $11.6 billion Infrastructure Growth Package includes $2.9 billion for infrastructure to support the new western Sydney airport and $3.7 billion for targeted infrastructure investments. These include the Perth Freight Link, $925 million; the Black Spot Program, which has a budgeted extra $200 million; and an additional $350 million for the Roads to Recovery program. These are fabulous programs, funded by the Abbott government. (Time expired)