Rural and regional Australians will benefit from a $20 billion investment fund targeting childcare, health and infrastructure gaps, if the coalition wins government.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud has vowed to set up the regional Australia future fund to invest $1 billion a year.
“This is about making sure that we’re just getting a little bit back to get our fair share of the huge resource boom that this country has enjoyed,” he said on Thursday.
The fund would get an initial $5 billion injection from the Commonwealth, which the coalition would raise by scrapping Labor’s $20 billion renewable energy infrastructure fund.
The rest would be funded from budget windfalls from uplifts in resource prices to build the fund over five years.
The coalition also plans to legislate the fund so that it can’t be easily scrapped by future governments.
The funds would be distributed through a competitive grants process to not-for-profits, to fill sectors where there is inadequate infrastructure or other gaps.
This could include upgrades, such as expanding a childcare centre, or services in the regions, like boosting the number of regional Commonwealth-supported university placements.
“You can only apply if that money is going to be out the door and you’re going to see something built or something delivered,” Mr Littleproud said.
The funding is above what the Nationals have already secured from the Liberals under their coalition agreement, including measures like a minimum 30 per cent housing spend for regional Australia.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said independent analysis would be used to determine how the money would be spent, rejecting claims it would be used to shore up support in areas the Nationals hold in parliament.
“It shouldn’t go to seats that are just held by Liberal and National Party members, it should be about the nine million of us that don’t live in capital cities,” she told ABC TV.
“You don’t have to go very far outside of our capital cities to see the degradation of our road network and that means every single Australian ends up paying more for their food, more for their goods because of the impact on our freight supply chain.”
The coalition also plans to legislate the fund so that it can’t be easily scrapped by future governments.
Meanwhile, the coalition has also committed $1.5 million to stop consumers from being “tricked” into buying plant-based meat products, if it wins the May 3 election.
“In a cost-of-living crisis, lack of clarity under current labelling laws means families have been tricked into thinking they are buying ‘cheap’ meat products such as beef or chicken, when in reality they are plant-based,” Mr Littleproud said.
The funding would be used to improve food labelling.
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