Farmers battling drought are set to be among the big winners in the 2017 budget, with the Coalition poised to announce a $4.5 billion regional investment corporation in May.
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The corporation will function as a one-stop shop that issues concessional drought loans for farmers, a $2 billion National Water Infrastructure loan facility to create new dams, weirs and irrigation pipelines, as well as administering money for drought recovery and farm finance loan schemes.
The new body will be housed in Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce's Agriculture department and its establishment will deliver on a promise made during the 2016 election campaign.
About $4 billion of the $4.5 billion is new money. The $2 billion National Water Infrastructure loan facility has been previously announced but none of the money has been spent.
By establishing the corporation, the Commonwealth will be able to step in to bypass the states in delivering funds for drought relief direct to farmers when they need it most.
It will also get new dam projects started more quickly.
In a Fairfax Media interview with the Deputy Prime Minister this week, Mr Joyce stopped short of explicitly confirming the new body would be unveiled in the May budget, but hinted it was imminent.
"It's an election promise and we have to start rolling these issues forward. That [the corporation] really starts making the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources a serious department that is doing serious things for our nation," he said.
"The money we have put out for dams; the states have been recalcitrant about putting out more money too.We've got [water] projects rolling in Tasmania, we should get other ones moving ... the regional development corporation, this allows us great flexibility in the Department of Agriculture."
The corporation is separate from the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, which was announced in the 2015 budget after being promised before the 2013 election.
That fund has not yet made any loans for infrastructure projects in the north of Australia but, despite a growing backlash from green groups, its first major loan could be a $1 billion concessional loan to Adani to help fund a coal railway that would link up with the Carmichael mine.
Mr Joyce said the project, and the mine, were "absolutely" viable, despite the high coal price.
"You have to remember that Adani is not mining coal, they are producing electricity," he said.
"They are power producers, they are not buying the coal to sell to someone else, they are using it themselves."
The NAIF's independent board is set to be assess the Adani loan application but the Nationals, in particular Resources Minister Matt Canavan, have championed the project - as has the state Labor government in Queensland.
Last week, a delegation of Australians travelled to India to confront Gautam Adani over the proposed Carmichael coal mine, urging the business tycoon to abandon the project and protect the environment.
Also on Friday, Mr Joyce, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and his assistant minister, Keith Pitt, signed an agreement with China designed to boost agricultural trade.
Industry has estimated the agreement could be worth up to $400 million a year in additional exports of chilled and frozen meat.
