Member for Barker Tony Pasin has welcomed this week’s release of Infrastructure Australia’s (IA) 2020 update to its Infrastructure Priority List, which reaffirms the Government’s delivery of the infrastructure Australia needs and deserves.

Mr Pasin said the list gives Governments independent, expert input on where they should be directing infrastructure spending.

“The 2020 Infrastructure Priority List delivers the largest list of projects to date – including 147 nationally significant proposals across a range of sectors including transport, energy, water, communications, housing and education and about $58 billion worth of projects,” Mr Pasin said.

This year’s list provides a new snapshot to guide infrastructure investment across the nation over the next 15 years.

Mr Pasin said he was pleased to see that Mobile telecommunications coverage in regional and remote areas had been identified as a priority by Infrastructure Australia as a near term timeframe.

“Within Government I’ve been advocating for increased and ongoing funding to address mobile phone service issues in the regions.

“Mobile phone coverage is not a luxury anymore. It’s a necessary tool for doing business and at the moment, it’s an economic barrier for our regions and growing our Agricultural industries,” Mr Pasin said.

“Recent natural disasters have reiterated the importance of mobile communications and mobile phones are now considered a critical safety device as well,” My Pasin said. “We need more Government investment and amended guidelines to put more emphasis on the needs of communities rather than the profitability of telecommunications companies.