Portfolio — 28 May 2026

Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories Kristy McBain used a House debate on 27 May to lay out the budget's local government and regional infrastructure commitments in full, anchoring her contribution around a $3.6 billion Financial Assistance Grant allocation — a rise of more than five per cent on the $3.4 billion provided in 2025–26 [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s174].

The minister framed the increase explicitly against what she described as the opposition's decision to freeze indexation on financial assistance grants, which she said stripped nearly $1 billion from councils. On roads, the budget delivers $1 billion annually through Roads to Recovery, $200 million per year through the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, and $150 million per year for road black-spot funding — a combined annual roads commitment of $1.35 billion flowing directly to local government.

The Growing Regions Program featured prominently, with McBain citing almost $600 million in community infrastructure funding already being delivered nationally, including an $8 million town-centre revitalisation in Mission Beach, Queensland, as a concrete example [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s174]. A further $750 million is reserved in the budget for future rounds of both the Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs programs, signalling continued pipeline investment beyond the current round.

The minister devoted the closing part of her contribution to process criticism of the previous government's regional grants record, pointing to the $122 million North Sydney pool project — sponsored by Senator Bridget McKenzie — as an example of funding allocated without published guidelines, a tender process, or an application form. She also raised the use of colour-coded spreadsheets to determine which regional communities received grants, characterising this as a diversion of funds away from intended recipients.

The parliamentary record covers one source document only; no ministerial media releases are present in this window, so the Note rests on the chamber contribution alone.