Kristy Reading, Host: All eyes will be on the federal Labor government on Tuesday as Treasurer Jim Chalmers hands down his budget. We already know there will be some type of cost-of-living support for some Australians in the budget papers, as many of us grapple with the rising cost of living and interest rates. But what else can we expect, and can our region benefit from what Labor is dishing out despite being represented by Nationals politicians? Senator Tim Ayres is in our region this week and is here to talk a bit more about this. Good morning and thanks for your time today.

Tim Ayres, Assistant Minister for Trade and Assistant Minister for Manufacturing: Thanks, Kristy. Really good to be on the show and talking to your listeners.

Kristy Reading: What brings you to the region this week?

Assistant Minister: Well, I've got a heap of commitments, some of them talking to local businesses about the opportunities under our program, the National Reconstruction Fund, to reindustrialise the Australian economy and to bring manufacturing back. So, talking to local businesses about the opportunities that are there for them. I'm also taking the opportunity, while I'm here, to talk with local Indigenous organisations and others about the issues around The Voice. And it's a really good opportunity, I have to say on a personal note, Kristy, to be back in the New England where I grew up and any moment where I get out of Sydney and on the road in the New England is a happy moment for me.

Kristy Reading: You should move here.

Assistant Minister: I think, like all of us, I grew up in Glen Innes, moved to the city and once you put roots down and family, then you're stuck. But I do love coming up here. I've got family up here and I'll even have an opportunity to see my dad in Armidale later on this evening, which is going to be terrific.

Kristy Reading: All right, fair enough. Well, look, let's talk budget, a Labor budget, of course, but as I mentioned, our region represented by Nationals Party members. What can we expect in regional and rural areas like ours from the budget?

Assistant Minister: Well, Anthony Albanese made it really clear when we came to government that we are a government for all of Australia, whether you voted for us or not. We're a government that is committed to representing all Australians and are working hard for all Australians. And when I came into the Parliament, you get an opportunity to make a first speech. It was one of the things that I took a lot of time on in my first speech, and I know is strongly felt by a lot of my Labor colleagues, that we need to focus on better outcomes for people in country towns.

We need to focus on making sure that government services, that economic opportunity, is not just concentrated in the CBDs of our major cities, but opportunity is extended to people in our outer suburbs, our industrial regions, in our country towns. And that's why, for example, in the portfolio area that I work in, the National Reconstruction Fund, $15 billion been allocated in that fund, the largest peacetime industry policy and manufacturing policy in Australian history. And budget allocations will be made in this budget for that. That is about bringing manufacturing back. And we're not going to be building new manufacturing facilities in the CBDs of our major capital cities. We're going to be building them in our country towns and our industrial regions and in our outer suburbs. So, every budget, every Labor budget, will be focused on regional Australia and on making sure that we're getting the opportunities and providing the service to all Australians.

Kristy Reading: Communities in our region are waiting for news on things like the Tenterfield Bypass, the Dungowan Dam, more around the Inland Rail as well. But of course, we know there's a number of reviews being undertaken around the Inland Rail, but also reviews announced this week for infrastructure promises that were given by the previous Coalition government. What can you tell us about that review and whether we will see any kind of mention of those major projects at all in this budget?

Assistant Minister: Well, there are, as you say, two reviews. One specifically into Inland Rail and the second one into the pipeline of infrastructure projects that the Commonwealth is engaged in. And those reviews are really there for two reasons. The first is, people would expect us to sharpen the pencil and to make sure that every Commonwealth dollar is being expended in the public interest. And we know from what happened under the previous government that there are a series of projects, including, I chaired the inquiry into the commuter car parks scheme, where Commonwealth infrastructure money was being spent building car parks in marginal seats in an utterly partisan and political way. As a number of those projects have expanded and they are all valuable and important projects, we are going to make sure that every dollar has been spent wisely.

But second reason is to make sure that these projects are actually being delivered on time and that they are going to deliver the benefit that has been promised. We don't want press release projects; we want real projects. And the good example of that is the Inland Rail. That is a very important infrastructure project for the future of the country as well as for the future of regional New South Wales. It will deliver manufacturing, capability for manufacturing to be able to get to our major ports and airports. It's an important project, but it's over budget, it is in a mess. It is a project that should be being delivered on time and this review will go to all of those issues and help strengthen that project and make sure that it actually gets delivered.

Kristy Reading: Projects like the Tenterfield Bypass, Dungowan Dam, Inland Rail, as you mentioned, these have been in the pipeline for a very long time. They've been projects that have been needed in communities for a very long time, so they're not new. Why - people are frustrated. We've spoken to people in Tenterfield who are frustrated, who need this bypass for their town. Can you understand why they're frustrated by a review looking into this again?

Assistant Minister: I think people are entitled to be frustrated. I have to say, Kristy, I'm not across the detail on the Tenterfield Bypass, but all of these projects are being reviewed. But you have to look at what's happened over the course of the last decade. Remember when Tony Abbott and your local member up here, Mr Joyce, promised that they would build 100 dams? That's what they said. They said, we will build 100 dams. They built one dam. There is a history of over promising and under delivering on a grand scale here, of press release projects, of making announcements with no delivery. And I understand people are deeply frustrated with all of that. We are, as a new government, going to run the ruler over all of these projects in a programmatic and systematic way to make sure that every dollar - 

Kristy Reading: How long will that take?

Assistant Minister: Well, a matter of months, a matter of months for both of those reviews. It's the smart thing to do. It's the right thing to do for the country, it's the right thing to do for regional Australia. We've got to get these projects right. And it's the right thing to do to review that pipeline. And it's the right thing to do to make sure that every dollar is spent wisely and that we get these projects delivered back under some control and delivered on time in a quality sort of way. And that goes for Inland Rail as well.

Kristy Reading: Tim, we'll have to leave it there this morning, but thank you for joining us on the breakfast program today.

Assistant Minister: Lovely to talk to you, Kristy. 

Kristy Reading: Thank you. That is Senator Tim Ayres there joining us here on ABC New England North West. Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing as well.

ENDS