Regional Roads

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development a question regarding regional road funding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: The Malinauskas government has signed our state up to a five-year national partnership agreement on land transport infrastructure projects that will see a shift from an 80:20 commonwealth funding split to a fifty-fifty agreement with states and territories. A senior New South Wales government source told the ABC that there was 'no effing way' their state would agree to it, while Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, has rebuked federal infrastructure minister Catherine King's fifty-fifty proposal. A 2023 independent review into the National Partnership Agreement heard strong views from stakeholders that such a funding split would result in a reduction in the state's investment in regional infrastructure.

My question to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development is: what concerns, if any, does the Minister for Regional Development have for our regional roads, and the local communities, primary industries and freight industries that rely on them, as a result of this new agreement?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:02): I will certainly take the question on notice and refer it to the relevant minister in the other place. However, I will say that I seem to recall hearing on radio—I think at the end of last week, and I think it was Mr Jon Whelan, the CEO of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, who said it, if I recall correctly—that, essentially, the premise of what the member here is now talking about was incorrect.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Ngo, stand up and ask your question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Stop harassing the Hon. Mr Ngo—both sides of the chamber! It's outrageous. Order!

The Hon. T.T. NGO: I am all stressed out now.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ngo, that's not a question.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. T.T. NGO: No; I'm not OK.

The PRESIDENT: Well, compose yourself.