Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I will come to that in a minute. So, where the market fails to provide new technology, there is going to be a guaranteed source of revenue to provide that technology in regional Australia for industries like those in the member for Riverina’s electorate.

It is well known that the Leader of the Opposition has referred to these two lots of investment in infrastructure in regional Australia. Firstly, he referred to the Roads to Recovery program as a boondoggle. In this year’s budget we have added another $307 million to local authorities through the Roads to Recovery program, and I bet that the local authorities in the member for Brand’s electorate take the money and want to keep it. They would not want it taken back and they would not believe it is a boondoggle. The Leader of the Opposition described the Connect Australia package as a National Party slush fund. I wonder if the member for Capricornia thinks it is a National Party slush fund when it helps her constituents get better communication services. People in country Australia do not believe, as the Leader of the Opposition does, that it is unnecessary and trivial. They do no believe that the Roads to Recovery program is a boondoggle. They believe that the Leader of the Opposition is unnecessary and trivial.

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