Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is sad when you see great people forced to do things that deep down they just do not believe in. I will give the member for Wentworth credit: there is panache in the way he does it and it is inspiring. In many respects it is greatly disappointing. I love the fascination with a cost-benefit analysis. It was reflected upon earlier by the Leader of the House that the water plan that the member for Wentworth had responsibility for never had a cost-benefit analysis. It was $10 billion and a cost-benefit analysis was never called for, never sought, and never put in place by them.

When the member for Wentworth mentioned OPEL, it brought to my attention Henry Ergas, who the opposition have quite a deal of enjoyment quoting to us from time to time. In his book Wrong number: resolving Australia’s telecommunications impasse he talks about how almost $4 million through your 11 years in government was spent addressing telecommunications issues in regional areas. I do not know that at any point at that stage the opposition called for a cost-benefit analysis.

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