A $2bn water infrastructure loan facility is the centrepiece of the Coalition’s regional policy, to provide concessional loans to the states and territories for projects.
The deputy prime minister and agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, said the loans were available from 2016 for 10 years and were designed to provide a financial incentive to state governments to invest in water infrastructure such as dams and pipelines.
Joyce said loans could cultivate partnerships between the states and territories and the private sector.
He said there were currently 60 potential water infrastructure project proposals seeking funding for feasibility studies. Loans must be paid back within 10 years of the project’s completion.
Joyce said the key focus would be infrastructure projects in the “national interest” that produced “affordable water”, were economically viable and environmentally sustainable over the life of the infrastructure and triggered rural and regional economic development.
Also in the agriculture area, the government have clawed back $9.2m from a program designed to manage farm risk by helping businesses with insurance advice – such as multiperil insurance.
“Consultation with industry suggests that demand at the time of the white paper may have been overestimated,” according to budget paper number two.
The savings will be redirected to repair the budget.
