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

I thank the member for Banks for his question. As he knows, this program has been extremely well received by local communities right around the nation because it has resulted in jobs being created in the short term based upon local communities’ priorities themselves as expressed through their elected local representatives in local government. It is also building infrastructure that will last for the long term.

Indeed, last Friday I had the pleasure of taking the opportunity to open the extensively upgraded Clementson Park at Bondi Junction, just around the corner from the electorate office of the member for Wentworth. All up, Waverley Council’s playground upgrade program received some $340,000. The work undertaken by the council involved an extensive refurbishment of the park and included the construction of a new playground, which will benefit the childcare centre that is just near the park. Further work is taking place at eight other parks around Wentworth. The Liberal mayor, Sally Betts, said:

Council and our community are very thankful for this funding from the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program.

It was a very successful launch, which the Liberal mayor, the Liberal deputy mayor and all the Liberal councillors came along to to express their support for economic stimulus on the ground in Wentworth.

Of course, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Wentworth, himself said, when he attended the launch of the community infrastructure program in his electorate on 26 April:

We have never argued about investing in infrastructure. We support investing in infrastructure …

But they have come in here day after day and opposed the infrastructure investment in schools, in local communities, in housing, in insulation. They have opposed the 70 per cent of the economic stimulus plan that goes into infrastructure. One thing the Leader of the Opposition has said is that it would not create one job. I say to the member for Wentworth that he should go around the corner from his electorate office, because—

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