The Morrison government will allocate more than $4bn to infrastructure projects in Tuesday night’s federal budget as part of efforts to lock in economic recovery after the pandemic and drive down unemployment. The government said a location for the proposed intermodal terminal in Melbourne would be determined after further discussions with the Victorian government. Additionally, there will be $160m to improve the agricultural supply chain in Western Australia and freight upgrades for the state of Tasmania, which has two marginal seats that the Coalition will be defending at the next federal election. In a statement confirming the infrastructure projects, the prime minister Scott Morrison said the investments would create jobs, boost business investment and secure Australia’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, described the infrastructure program as “the centrepiece of our national economic recovery plan”.

Source: The Guardian May 09, 2021 17:30 UTC