A 3,000 kilometre tourist route across the middle of Australia is being launched today, in an effort to encourage more people to travel in their own backyard.
'Australia's Longest Short Cut' will be unveiled in Alice Springs tonight, spanning from Winton in western Queensland to Laverton in Western Australia.
Winton Mayor Ed Warren says most of the Outback Way route is a dirt road and there is more work needed to bring it up to scratch.
"There's a much larger vision for the Outback Way," he said.
"We've been working on this for some 12 to 14 years and the whole aim of it was to upgrade the road to a sealed surface, but look, that's going to take the best part of $300-400 million to do that."
Councillor Warren says the road would bring new opportunities for industry and tourism.
"I think there are huge benefits, particularly at the moment with our world financial crisis, I think it's a fantastic opportunity to highlight the inland of Australia which people have not seen and I think it's a great opportunity for people to really look at Australia," he said.
