Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure tonight to support this motion from the member for Sturt. I want to take up the points that the member for Blair made in relation to this very important inquiry into the BER program that we are calling for. The member for Blair asserts that there are no facts and there is no evidence in relation to the need for an inquiry into the BER. I would say to the member for Blair: ‘Where have you been for the last two years?’

It is a fact that of the $16.2 billion only $9.8 billion has been spent. That means 40 per cent of the stimulus funding in the BER remains unspent today. So where are the jobs that the member for Blair said saved us from the recession? There were not 200,000 jobs. The reality is there were no mechanisms for job creation coming out of the BER program. That is what the ANAO report said. We have to be very clear about that.

I am here tonight to report a series of problems and failures with the BER, in my electorate and in my great state of New South Wales, that resulted from the decision of this federal Labor administration to pass the administration of the BER to the New South Wales government.

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