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Foreword

Nearly two‑thirds of Australians live in our capital cities but it is Australia's regions that generate two‑thirds of our export earnings. The natural wealth in our regions, including resources and agriculture underpins our economy.

The past year has required us not only to address major short‑term challenges but also to secure our future prosperity with sustainable policy directions for regional and rural Australia. Infrastructure shortfalls, the continuing drought, the challenge of bushfires and floods and the global economic recession has highlighted the need for decisive and immediate action by the Australian Government to cushion the impact on regions.

The Australian Government is committed to improving our regional and rural communities and securing the nation's future, through investments in transport, water, energy, housing, health, education and communications infrastructure, as well as taking a whole‑of‑government approach in regional policies.

In the short to medium term, the $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan will stimulate employment, fund better infrastructure, and support Australia's economic prosperity by helping us become more innovative, efficient and internationally competitive. In particular, funding of $800 million for the Community Infrastructure Program — the largest one‑off investment in local infrastructure in Australia's history — has been provided to stimulate growth and economic activity across the nation.

Providing both an additional economic stimulus and longer term benefits for our economy, the Budget allocates record funding of $34.7 billion to nationally significant transport projects across Australia that will boost our nation's productivity and create jobs.

Agriculture, fisheries and forestry will continue to be an important part of Australia's economy. These sectors are at the forefront of tackling key challenges: keeping our rural and regional communities strong and building prosperity, dealing with climate change and drought, boosting biosecurity preparedness and addressing the food security needs of the world. The Government will continue to strongly support the productivity, growth and development of Australia's primary industries.

Our focus on agricultural productivity is critical and we continue to support our industry through strengthening quarantine and biosecurity systems as well as funding research into combating the issue of climate change.

The Government is mindful of the global environment and energy issues and is working towards the provision of adequate, reliable and affordable energy to meet future energy consumption needs and to underpin strong economic growth, consistent with the principles of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. To this end, the Government will introduce a new $4.5 billion Clean Energy Initiative to accelerate the large scale deployment of carbon capture and storage, and solar technology in Australia, and to bring innovative renewable technologies to market at acceptable cost.

We will strengthen rural and regional Australia with significant investment across the spectrum of economic, environmental and social needs. We are listening to and engaging with all our regions in order to make sure we emerge from the global recession stronger and with more sustainable regional communities.