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

I was asked about infrastructure spending and I am happy to respond because it is in fact very unusual for those opposite to try and run the duplicitous argument that they. On the one hand, we are spending too much on infrastructure—there is too much debt—but, on the other hand we are not doing enough. That is the tenet of the document. Indeed, the shadow minister said at the doors this morning that nothing could take away from the fact that Labor ‘is spending $5 billion less on road and rail than the coalition government had promised before the last election.’  He said that, instead of building more, we are actually building less. That is their argument. So now they are arguing that they would spend $5 billion more than they committed on road and rail transport infrastructure at the last election. What a joke. There is no person in the House who is more pleased to hear that than the finance minister, I assure you!

The fact is that what they actually committed to AusLink 2 in the last election was $22.3 billion. They committed $22.3 billion, they ran around and made promises for $31 billion, and they want to argue against our infrastructure program, saying that we are spending too much. They say the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow finance minister will wind it back, but at the same time they are arguing we should spend more. You cannot have it both ways. You have to make up your mind what projects you support and what projects you would wind back, as the Leader of the Opposition has said he would do and as the shadow finance minister has said she would do.

See this speech in context