Mr Joyce told media on Friday that the policy would only apply to roads longer than 20 kilometres, which haven't seen substantial work for 50 years.

"Right now I'm working towards drawing up another policy. I'm going to call it the neglected road [policy]," he said.

"I had another adjective for neglected, but we're going to call it neglected because otherwise it's profane."

The as-yet unannounced policy would make life better for people in the most remote parts of the country, he said.

"We want to make sure that these people, in the remotest of areas, can get the benefit that other places take for granted. To try and help them out."

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Mr Joyce also hinted that the Commonwealth government would "have another crack" at the Merriwa to Willow Tree Road.

A previous upgrade was botched, leading to road closures last year.

He also flagged moves to extend the $15 billion Inland Rail Project, which is set to connect Melbourne to Brisbane, to continue on to Gladstone.

"This is showing us with a vision, a vision for now project we're are doing, a vision for the future," Mr Joyce said.

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