Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, I will not. One of the things we have done which the Liberal and National parties did not do is look at infrastructure beyond roads, rail and port to safety in all rural and remote communities, the ones the Liberal and National parties purport to represent. It took a very long time for a government—the Rudd Labor government—to put their money on the table, to fix up boom gates and rail crossings, to make sure that we not only invest in rural communities but that we also make them safer. The other side smirks and thinks it is all really funny. There is one great way to make sure you can drive a local economy in a small remote country town or hamlet—perhaps in Victoria or somewhere else—by investing in their schools. It has probably been over 30 years since there has been investment as significant as that made by this government. I am very proud of the work we have done, not only in managing to avoid a technical recession in this country but in maintaining jobs, investing in critical rail and road, in schools, in education and in hospitals, and in a range of other areas. We had the courage to do that in tough times, unlike the other side which, during the good times, did not have the courage do anything good at all. I commend the bill to the House.

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