Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I would suggest to those opposite that they reflect long and hard about the course of action which they are currently advocating which is, in effect, to do nothing. And I would suggest to the member for Higgins that he could have begun this process some time ago, taking the advice from Access Economics, by investing in the nation’s infrastructure in the past, because now we are confronted with a double challenge. We have to overcome the infrastructure deficit left by those opposite over a 10-year period when the member for Higgins was rolling in the cash, as it came in the door off the back of the resources boom, but not investing a single dollar in the nation’s infrastructure. What we must do now as a responsible government is this: invest in the nation’s infrastructure—in our ports, in our roads, in our urban transit systems, in our rail, in our high-speed broadband, in our hospitals, in our schools, in our universities, in our TAFE colleges; support investment in the nation’s infrastructure and, through doing that, support growth and jobs and help families on the way through. That is a strategy for responsible economic management. And I suggest to those opposite they get with the project.

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