Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The assistant minister does not seem to be that keen to secure the support of the Greens for this Land Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2014 so I rise to give them one last opportunity for the third time on this question.

I have heard this assistant minister come into the chamber many, many times, whether it has been in opposition or now in government, and say, 'The only people that you can trust to spend your money are the Liberal Party because we put everything through a rigorous cost-benefit analysis'. There will be no waste under us.' As he just alluded to in a previous contribution in this debate he said, 'It's the same argument that we ran with the NBN.' And what the minister will remember, is that the opposition then said, 'Don't proceed with the NBN until there has been a cost-benefit analysis done and until the results are published.' Given all of that, and given that we are seriously considering this bill—and I presume that the minister wants to get it through the Senate—I will try one last time. Will the minister or the government commit to making public cost-benefit analysis on the East West Link before $1½ billion is spent on before the contracts are signed?

See this speech in context