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

The argument that the coalition put is that the Strategic Regional Program was just for regions and that somehow the Labor government is trying to take money away from the regions and put it into the cities. Let us have a look at what the opposition actually did under the Strategic Regional Program. The best example, perhaps, of their Strategic Regional Roads program was that it provided $2 million to upgrade Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach, in the electorate of Wentworth. The only way you could head further east would be to by getting wet—with scuba gear—because Campbell Parade was in the marginal seat of Wentworth in the lead-up to the election.

But it was not just in the seat of Wentworth, of course. Bennelong—now finally represented by the member for Bennelong—received three lots of funding: the upgrade of Balaclava Road, the upgrade of Cox’s Road and the upgrade of Wicks Road. So what those opposite did with the Strategic Regional Program was fund roads in regional Australia and in marginal electorates. That is what they did. That is what the opportunists opposite did.

The opposition amendment, which they all voted for, was opposed to the off-network projects that will be funded by the Rudd government—41 projects worth $655 million. The member for La Trobe voted against $30 million to upgrade Clyde Road in his electorate. Congratulations! We will be letting them know, Member for La Trobe. The member for Stirling came into this parliament and spoke about the need for more road funding in his electorate, but he voted against the $10 million interchange upgrade on the Reid Highway and Alexander Drive. That is part of the legislation. He complained about it but comes in and, when he has the opportunity, votes against it. Once again, he is doing one thing in the electorate and another thing here in Canberra.

They also had a second amendment that they all voted for, which was about the Black Spot Program—the Black Spot Program that we have more than doubled. What they did there was move an amendment saying that the Black Spot Program should not apply to the national network. The Black Spot Program projects are identified by a committee. That has not changed. The committee consists of motoring organisations and safety experts, and projects are identified on the basis of accidents. It is not a political process at all. That is the way that projects are identified, and 81 projects on the national network have been selected for the Black Spot Program so far—81 projects that were opposed by those opposite. Let’s look at the politics of this: 43 of the 81 projects that they voted against are in coalition electorates, 33 in Labor electorates and five in electorates held by Independents. They voted against this program. The opportunism is extraordinary. Once again, the member for Gippsland has provided us with some really good material, because the very program that I identified—

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