Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the government’s reckless spending and the severe impact it is having, and will continue to have, on families and small business. In the time available to me I will focus on just three words: value for money. That is what we all look for when we run our household budgets. For those of us who have been involved in small business in the past, it is something we focus on in everything we do. We ring around, we get quotes, we want to make sure we get the right price and the job well done. But judging by this government’s reckless spending over the  past six months, value for money is a concept that it simply does not understand. How else can we explain the $12.7 billion cash splash—the $900 sugar fix that should have been used for investing in projects that deliver real long-term benefits throughout our nation, not on a rush for plasma TVs and poker machines. I have no doubt that the cheques in the mail were particularly popular in the electorate, but they were not in the nation’s long-term interest and they did not deliver value for money in terms of benefits to infrastructure throughout the Australian economy.

We are right in the middle of the Spring Racing Carnival so it is timely to reflect on the biggest punt of all time: the $12.7 billion gamble with borrowed money that delivered no long-term benefit to the future prosperity of our nation. Long after that joy of receiving the cheque in the mail, Australian families will be paying off this debt which that has been accumulated for every man, woman and child.

Gippsland’s share of this reckless cash splash, if you do some rough calculations, was in the vicinity of $90 million. I can assure the House that Gippslanders who have spoken to me ever since have been very critical of the government’s reckless spending spree and stated that they would rather have seen that money spent on worthwhile long-term projects such as safer roads, better health services, upgraded sporting facilities in our community.

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