Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

He loves him. He is very, very fond of the Leader of the National Party. Why? Because he gives us so much material. He gives us so many lines. There are two Nationals here now from the guilty party. You are both guilty. Why? The member for Maranoa, on 1 April, put out a media release headed ‘Green light for Kingaroy road funding’. It stated:

Federal LNP Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott welcomed $650,000 in funding from the Federal Black Spots Program …

Ain’t that grand! The very program that he voted against and that they described as a ‘low-quality spend’. On the same day, April Fools’ Day, in another press release headed ‘A right move for Dalby road funding’ another $70,000 was welcomed. And then we have the National Party member for Mallee—and his name is John Forrest. I would not use the name ordinarily in parliament, but I am quoting directly from a press release:

Federal member for Mallee John Forrest says Black Spot funding approaching $2 million for the Mallee Electorate announced by the Federal Infrastructure Minister today will be money well spent.

Money that they voted against! Now we have the member for Gippsland. Thank you for coming along, because you probably thought you would get a run in this MPI and you are. The article’s headline is ‘Dangerous roads to be upgraded’. It states:

The dangerous McKean Street intersections with Victoria and Dreverman streets in Bairnsdale will be upgraded following an announcement of $500,000 from the Federal Government—

which the member for Gippsland voted against. So you are all brave here in Canberra, but when you go back to your electorates you are cowards. You are cowards in Canberra because you do not have the guts to say to your local constituents, ‘Listen, I’ve got to be honest with you, I’ve got to be frank with you, I’ve got to level with you: we voted against this; we are against these measures; we are against these local initiatives.’

The member for La Trobe is writing letters to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government saying, ‘Look, it would be terrific, Minister, for the city of Knox if we could establish an indoor stadium and regional soccer facility.’ I have another one from the federal member for Swan—and this I think is a lovely personal touch:

Dear Minister’—

‘Minister’ is struck through and replaced with ‘Anthony’; we call him ‘Albo’—

The City of Canning in my electorate of Swan has submitted an application for assistance towards the development of replacement playground equipment, pathways and sports field lighting under the above program. I would be grateful for your consideration of the application, which I strongly endorse.

What! Out of a program that they voted against? He strongly endorses an application from a program that they oppose in Canberra but do not have the guts to tell their local constituents that they are opposing. I have three more letters—and I will not go through them all. There is one from the member for Wannon talking about three different proposals that he has asked Minister Albanese about—there is a strike-through there as well; he has changed it to ‘Minister/Anthony’. He thinks, ‘Maybe that will maximise my chances of getting the application approved.’ We have got more and more of these proposals. Sometimes you cannot be sure if they are bogus, because you cannot really believe some of the stuff that they go on with. I know people in the past have said, ‘We’ve been set up, it really wasn’t us.’ Is that really Steve Irons, the member for Swan, having a look at the new civic centre library in South Perth—the government contributing $2 million? It sure looks like him. I think that is him. And who is this handsome fellow here? Rowan Ramsey, the member for Grey, at the announcement of $2.5 million for Port Pirie Library and Internet Centre. He looks particularly pleased. He is very happy with the program that he voted against but which he pretends in his electorate that he supported.

Here we have a fairly recently elected member who replaced Alexander Downer. His name is Jamie Briggs, the member for Mayo. There he is, happy at the announcement of more than $2.3 million for a new swimming pool in Strathalbyn. And then we have the thumbs up: here is Joanna Gash with Senator Arbib. ‘Go Mark!’ says Joanna Gash, the member for Gilmore. She is really happy with her thumbs up. And who is this guy here? You can only see part of the photo. We have got Albo, the minister, here. Doesn’t that look like the Leader of the Opposition? There he is, the member for Wentworth, at the announcement of $2 million for a new pavilion at Waverley Park. Isn’t that terrific!

That is the problem, though—they just do not have any guts. Here we are, as a government, investing in roads, rail, ports, broadband and the biggest school modernisation program in Australia’s history and supporting small business and jobs, with Treasury estimates that 200,000 extra jobs would be lost if it weren’t for the stimulus packages and the budget measures that we have announced and are implementing now. Here are the questions for the coalition: where is the money coming from? Where are you going to cut spending? Where are you going to increase taxes? We are building the economy up while you spend all your time talking it down.

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