The greatest thing about the government's commitment to build and develop northern Australia is the benefits it is providing to the people of northern Australia, particularly through better infrastructure. Across northern Australia over the last few years we have invested in and are building 37 different road projects, dedicated to improving access and productivity for our beef sector, the first beef roads program for decades, and to investing in infrastructure that supports our agriculture, mining and tourism sectors. Read more

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has made very good progress over the last year. It has now funded just under $1½ billion of investments. Read more

We have a record investment in infrastructure rolling out around our country right now—about $100 billion over the next 10 years. Never before has an Australian government funded more infrastructure at one point in time: 130 major projects are funded and under construction at the moment. They are supporting 85,000 jobs around Australia. That's enough jobs to fill up ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Enough jobs to fill up a football stadium are being created by this government's infrastructure package. Read more

I thank senators for their contributions to this debate on the very important Farm Household Support Amendment (Relief Measures) Bill (No. 1) 2019. We know farming is a long game. Read more

 We've been trying to find a long-term place to store this waste for about 40 years. It's extremely important, because the waste that it will store comes primarily from the production of nuclear medicines that we make at Lucas Heights near Sydney. Nuclear medicine has allowed us to control and, in some cases, cure conditions like cancer, related thyroid conditions, bone pain caused by cancer and many other medical conditions. Read more

We on this side all love dams. We love building dams. Dams are good for Australia. Dams are good for our country because they help us protect and plan for our futures. Dams are all about storing water today so that, in the future, we can grow more food, create more wealth, create more jobs and create more opportunity for all Australians. That's why we love dams. Read more

I'm delighted to update the Senate on the progress that has occurred at the Adani Carmichael mine, especially the progress that has occurred since 18 May. The progress is going well. There are now in fact around 150 people employed at the site at Carmichael in outback Queensland. They're moving dirt. Read more

I thank my fellow senators for their contributions to this debate. I'd also like to thank all the stakeholders who contributed to the consultation we engaged in for the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other Measures) Bill 2019. We value the important contributions made by the industry, the research sector, and intellectual property legal practitioners. Read more

We have a fantastic resources industry in this nation, a lot of it in Western Australia, and we have huge opportunities in the future in critical minerals and rare earths, as Senator O'Sullivan outlined.  Read more

I want to thank senators for their contributions to these amendments. It is some very important legislation on our books. It's the legislation that provides the oversight and regulation of activities in our offshore areas, primarily oil and gas development in those areas. Obviously, they're activities that require a substantial amount of regulation and, as the responsible minister, I take the responsibility to ensure that we have robust regulation of our environment and the safety of workers in those environments very seriously.  Read more