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

The shadow minister made some extraordinary statements during that contribution. One was that the Building Australia Fund was somehow a creation of the Howard government. It was created through legislation moved by me as the minister as part of the creation of Infrastructure Australia. It is a part of the infrastructure Australia setup, something that they never did. They never set up a process and indeed they opposed the Infrastructure Australian legislation. It is complete nonsense from those opposite.

He went on to pretend that programs that are under construction with real money creating real jobs, creating real improvements in infrastructure do not exist. He should go to Rockhampton, have a look at the Yeppen roundabout, have a look at the duplication of the bridges that are under construction right now. It is not an apparition; it is real. It exists. There is steel and concrete, and there are workers and cranes working right now on the Bruce Highway.

This shadow minister was once the minister and he described the Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway as the worst section of road in Australia. He was the transport minister, it is in his electorate and he did nothing about it. Well, we have for one section of it. We promised it, funded it, built it and opened it. He did not play a role in any of those activities. I say to the shadow minister that next week I will be turning a sod on construction in his electorate. Come along—Cooroy to Curra section A, funded by us. Come along.

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