Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Hinch, for your question. I do think the re-election of the Daniel Andrews government was an appalling result for regional Victoria, particularly when you look at the infrastructure spend by that state Labor government in areas across regional Victoria, in our home state. And you know, as I do, that those areas outside of metropolitan Melbourne have been derelict when it comes to the Andrews Labor government's infrastructure spend. That is why the proposition that the state opposition put forward around the fast rail program—around appropriately funding not just fast rail but adequate rail and freight systems out to productive areas of regional Australia—was supported by voters last Saturday. They actually voted for that vision, overwhelmingly, with five out of seven National Party candidates and, indeed, many Liberal regional Victorian candidates, not seeing the swings. Regional Victoria did not rush to the Daniel Andrews agenda in the same way that Melburnians did. In terms of the specifics of the project you mentioned, Senator Hinch, I will take that on notice and get back to you after I've spoken to the Deputy Prime Minister, but I think that when we look at what regional Victorians care about—the promotion of agriculture, the assuredness around investing in regional schools and regional hospitals, nurses, and the like—Daniel Andrews and his appalling government's track record was wholeheartedly rejected by regional Victoria on Saturday.