Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is nice, isn’t it. In fact, while we are talking about Walgett, I will send out some cheerios to my cousins Tommy and Stewart Evans. Now I will have to get in touch with them to tell them that they have been mentioned in the national Hansard.

There are a couple of major thrusts in this report, and the one that we have been hearing most about from members opposite today is the recommendation that commercial projects be removed from this program. Each and every one of us understands the value of commercial programs in the development of regional areas. The dissenting report from the member for Hinkler says that we have said no to commercial programs but what we have said is, no, not under this one.

We then went on, in recommendation No. 7, to recommend that the government establish a particular program to look after the commercial projects within a department with expertise in this area. Commercial projects represented eight per cent of the money given out and, although I am not sure that I am accurate, probably a hundred per cent of the rorts. I believe that one of the reasons that was able to occur is that business decisions were being made by bureaucrats in departments without business expertise.

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