Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

An absolutely extraordinary position was put on the record by the member for Barker—that is, he is opposed to the $5 million injection which will build a library for Mount Gambier, build a new town centre for Mount Gambier and reconstruct the centre of the important regional community in his electorate. He voted against it and he is still against it. The mayor of that community is very supportive. He is not a Labor mayor but the state Liberal candidate for the area. He put in for the project. We supported it because we supported projects right across the country, regardless of the political affiliation of the councils putting forward those projects. The federal member has shown just how isolated he is from his own community, just as he is isolated on the schools program. But the chickens will come home to roost when we come to the next election, because they will be on the record as opposing all these nation-building and job-creating programs in their electorates.

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