Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know that you are totally embarrassed, members of the Labor Party, because under your government, which preceded John Howard in 1996, your average infrastructure spending was about 2.95 per cent of GDP. When we left office in 2010 we had over five per cent of GDP. In fact, in your infrastructure spending, which was part of your response to the GFC—only 14 per cent of which went to economic infrastructure—you were preferring to spend money on pink batts and over-priced school halls than infrastructure that gets productivity going in this country. All those members on your side sitting in marginal seats, whether they be in Deakin, Chisholm or La Trobe, secretly support this motion put by the member for Aston.

In fact, the member for Deakin and the member for La Trobe have said, 'You know what, we don't mind this thing. We'd like to see an east-west linkup'. They have come out and said, 'You know what? There is some merit to this project.' Only you are standing out denying the realities of this. We want families to spend more time with each other; we do not want them to spend more time on the road. We want people to access the knowledge precincts. We want small business people to get to jobs. We want people to reach the airport. We want to send fewer emissions into the atmosphere. How can we do that? By supporting the East-West Link but by supporting the state government and by allowing Tony Abbott, if he gets his chance on 14 September, to implement the East-West Link strategy.

See this speech in context