Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

When the people of New South Wales go to the polls this Saturday, there will be an opportunity for them to cast a verdict not only on the performance of Mike Baird and his plans to sell off the poles and wires in this state but also on this Prime Minister, because it is Mike Baird in New South Wales who is collaborating with this Prime Minister to cut the funding from our schools. It is Mike Baird in New South Wales who is collaborating with this Prime Minister to cut the funding to our hospitals—over $55 billion worth of funding cuts throughout the country. And not a peep from Mike Baird as he pulls his surfboard out and goes surfing at Manly on a Saturday with this Prime Minister. He is collaborating with the Prime Minister to cut funding to our schools and to cut funding to our hospitals. He is collaborating with this government over here to privatise our poles and wires, against the very wishes of the people of New South Wales.

Anybody who has knocked on a door in New South Wales over the last month will tell you that they want to keep the poles and wires in public hands. They do not agree to the bribery of this Prime Minister and the Premier of New South Wales, and this Saturday will be an opportunity for them to cast a verdict on both of them.

See this speech in context