Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his question. Senator O'Sullivan, the whole coalition team are focused on delivering secure jobs and greater opportunities for everyone who calls regional Australia home. One of the key planks in the coalition's job-creating agenda is the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages. Through RJIP, the coalition is partnering with other levels of government and the private sector to deliver job-creating projects in regional Australia.

In Wide Bay and the Bowen Basin, the coalition will support 29 projects with almost $50 million worth of Commonwealth funding. Importantly, we are levering another $100 million, so there is $150 million worth of jobs going into this area. We are supporting projects like the Wallaville cane railway expansion via the Isis Central Sugar Mill. We're contributing $2.5 million to build 36 kilometres of new railway track, which will create more than 40 new jobs at the mill. In Yeppoon we are supporting the new $11.6 million fruit-processing plant being delivered by Tropical Pines. This new plant will give local growers more opportunities to ensure that their fruit is able to be processed when it's fresh and at its best and, importantly, will create another 25 jobs when it's operational. In Gladstone, we're getting behind the Gladstone Regional Council to deliver the community health precinct on Philip Street. This precinct will help bring health and social services together in a one-stop shop that will provide better outcomes for the local community and ultimately employ more than 250 people in different roles. All up, the 29 projects supported across Wide Bay and the Bowen Basin are expected to create more than 800 jobs during construction and 1,500 ongoing jobs when they're complete. This is the kind of support from the coalition for the Australian economy that delivered over 400,000 jobs in the last year. (Time expired)