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

I thank the member for Bendigo for his question. Indeed, it was a pleasure to visit Kyneton with the member for Bendigo to announce the $5 million for the sports facility in Kyneton—a campaign that had been conducted for 10 years by that local community. It is a project that will support local jobs, stimulate the local economy and make a big difference to young people in Kyneton in particular and for generations to come. We know that local capital works are a very effective way of stimulating the economy when it is needed most. That is why we have delivered $800 million through the regional and local Community Infrastructure Program.

More than 3,300 projects have been approved in local communities right across Australia, regardless of the electorate. An analysis of that $800 million shows that 53 per cent is going to government-held seats, Labor-held seats—that is slightly less than the percentage of seats we hold in the parliament, which is 55 per cent—and 41 per cent is going to Liberal and National party seats such as Sturt. Every seat in the parliament will benefit. Indeed, six per cent of that funding is going to Independent-held seats. There is a particular bias towards electorates affected by bushfire or flood. Hence the electorates of McEwen and, in particular, Kennedy have benefited substantially from this program. This contrasts with the previous government’s approach, whereby one-third of the funds under the Regional Partnerships program went into just 10 seats—and every single one of them was held by the Liberal Party or the National Party.

Our program is a part of the 70 per cent of the stimulus package that is going into infrastructure. But we know that, in spite of the fact that this is a program that is being fairly delivered across the country, those opposite voted against funding for their own electorates. Here in Canberra they did doorstops and called it ‘low-quality spending’. But when they visited their electorates it was a very different story. There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is certainly true when it comes to this program. Here is a photo of the member for Swan, on 1 May, pointing at plans for a new civic centre and library in South Perth, to which we are contributing $2 million. I do not think he is saying to the mayor and the local community leaders, ‘This is a project I voted against.’

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