The Federal Government's $594 million budget commitment to an inland rail network connecting Brisbane to Melbourne will be a major boost for Australian business, proponents say.

Treasurer Scott Morrison announced spending for rail land acquisition as one of the measures for rural Australia in the budget he handed down Tuesday night.

Inland railway advisory group member Everald Compton, who had lobbied for the project for 20 years, said the announcement was "a breakthrough of some significance".

He said inland rail now had bipartisan support, meaning it is likely to go ahead.

"I believe that that rail track can be up and going five years from now if governments are serious about it, but allowing for the fact that bureaucracy will hold it up, we may be talking about 10 [years]," he said.

"I'm pleased it's finally been recognised that Australia has to have good freight railways that will serve rural Australia, give them efficient low-cost transport to ports and to markets in Australia," he said.

Mr Compton said opening the Brisbane-Melbourne rail link would take several thousand trucks off the roads.

"It'll be better on the environment, but it'll mean that whereas you've got 2,000 truck drivers, you can have a train that's only got a couple of staff on it and therefore reduce the freight costs for anyone doing business in Australia," he said.

"It's a very significant step forward and it's been worth waiting to have. There's a long way to go, we've got to carry it on then up to Gladstone, and up to Townsville and across through Mt Isa to Tenant Creek where it'll meet the Adelaide-Darwin railway."

Other rail projects ignored: Chamber of Commerce

But Nick Behrens from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland said the budget ignored infrastructure projects such as Brisbane's Cross River Rail, a Townsville to Mount Isa rail connection and upgrades to the M1.

Nick Behrens said he hoped for election spending on state infrastructure. ( ABC News )

"We're hopeful that the Federal Government is keeping its powder dry and that we will see announcements in or for these projects over the course of the election campaign," he said.

"But its only the Ipswich motorway that's got $200 million."

Mr Behrens also said many of the state's businesses came out winners in the budget.

He praised tax cuts and an increase to the instant asset write-off threshold for small and medium-sized businesses.

"We think that that's a really good move, it ensures the likelihood of these businesses being able to grow and hopefully they'll use the anticipated $250 million for Queensland businesses in the 2016-17 financial year to grow their business and that will, in turn, create jobs."

Queensland was ignored: Curtis Pitt

Curtis Pitt said a range of Queensland projects had missed out. ( ABC News: Giulio Saggin )

But Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the state was ignored in Tuesday night's budget.

"There is not a cent for the NQ Stadium in Townsville. There is not a cent for Cross River Rail," he said.

"There is no new funding for the Bruce Highway and other 'new' funds have already been announced for the Ipswich Motorway and Toowoomba Second Range Crossing.

"There is not a cent from the $5 billion asset recycling fund that is conditional on asset sales and sees billions given to public transport projects in other states. On a population basis alone we should have expected to receive at least $1 billion.

Mr Pitt said cuts to health and education from former treasurer Joe Hockey's 2014 budget had not been restored.

"There has been merely a token effort to provide extra funds to education and health. Roads and water funds for northern Australia are not attached to any specific projects."

Meanwhile, Nick Heath from World Wildlife Fund Australia said the Federal Government should have cut fuel subsidies for the resources industry.

"There isn't a sense in subsidising what is largely a multinational mining industry to create further pollution," he said.

"Why should they pay less for their fuel than everybody else?"