Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

When the Prime Minister pretends there's nothing wrong with a sports rorts fiasco, he is treating Australians like idiots. Every member of the government who parrots the line that all clubs who received a grant were eligible is treating their community members like idiots. We teach kids in this country to play fair, but for this government anything goes. We teach kids to play by the rules and the spirit of the game, but for this lot every rule can be bent and broken if it's to their political advantage—with taxpayers' money.

In my electorate, the Fremantle Tennis Club made an application on two occasions and missed out. They received feedback from Tennis West to the effect of: 'Bad luck. It's a political decision. You're not in the right seat.' Elsewhere in my electorate, the East Fremantle tennis club did get a grant, and I'm glad for that club. It caters to a range of sports and community users, but the question has to be asked: why one club and not the other? The East Fremantle announcement was attended and promoted by the Liberal candidate in Fremantle, Nicole Robins, and, as it happens, that club sits in the marginal state seat of Bicton. It's absolutely a target seat for the WA Liberals. Who is now in line to run as the Liberal candidate for the state seat of Bicton? Nicole Robins. Maybe the political payoff for the murky and deeply corrupted sports rorts fiasco didn't end with the 2019 federal election. But what we know for sure is that this government used taxpayers' money for its own political benefit at the expense of community clubs around—

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