Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this MPI, and I will just make a few comments about the member for Moncrieff, who started her contribution talking about the virtues of the light rail project on the Gold Coast and saying how proud she was of that project—and she's so proud of it that the Liberals actually do turn up when the state Labor government opens those projects. What she neglected to tell the House is that she campaigned against it. She campaigned against light rail on the Gold Coast. When the former Rudd government announced the first $200 million, the member for Moncrieff and all of the other Gold Coast Liberal MPs were on the sides of the roads, holding up signs saying, 'Don't support this project.' 'Businesses will close.' Forget that it's a transformative project that delivered the Commonwealth Games; they campaigned against it. I mean, hypocrisy—how do you spell hypocrisy? L-N-P—that's exactly what you get. So let's not have any crocodile tears.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I'll tell you why we're having the by-election in Currumbin, considering the member mentioned this. It's because the LNP bullied out one of its own members. There's silence on that side when I say that—silence for the former member, Jann Stuckey, who said she was bullied out of parliament. The member for Moncrieff worked for the member for Currumbin, so I would actually defend her rather than criticising the fact that state Labor has helped build the Gold Coast—the convention centre, the Gold Coast hospital, light rail, delivering infrastructure. What has the Gold Coast seen from the LNP? Cutting, sacking and selling, the last time the LNP was in power in Queensland. Wall-to-wall Liberals on the Gold Coast, state, local and federal, and what do you get out of it? Zero. Time and time again, the Gold Coast has been taken for granted by the LNP. So let's not have any lectures—as the Prime Minister likes to say in question time—today from the member for Moncrieff about light rail. She campaigned against it—a $200 million transport project. The member for Burleigh is still campaigning against light rail. When are you going to start listening? You don't think that people are on to you? I tell you what they're on to in the Gold Coast: the fact that the LNP does not deliver on its promises.

Let's talk about the state of Queensland, which I proudly represent, and today's MPI. The Queensland coalition seats, and some marginal seats, received 89 per cent of the funds that we're talking about. Let's put that into perspective: nine out of ten dollars went to coalition marginal seats. The member for Moncrieff said, 'We're about people getting home quicker and sooner'—well, only if you live in an LNP seat! Let's look at the seats that missed out completely on this funding: the seat of Grayndler, the seat of Kingsford Smith, the seat of Sydney—apparently all of the congestion has been busted in the capital of New South Wales, with not one dollar being spent on congestion-busting in that city— and the electorates of Macquarie, Werriwa—I'm pretty that the member for Werriwa will say, 'we've got congestion in our seat'—Fowler, Blaxland, Chifley, Parramatta, Watson, Griffith, Spence, Hindmarsh, Kingston—and I see the member for Cooper is in the chamber: there's no congestion in inner Melbourne! Forget it, job done, tick; well done—Wills, Hotham, Isaacs, Gellibrand, Lalor and Maribyrnong. They have missed out, time and time again. Then you get into the regional cities and the electorates of Canberra, Bean, Fenner, Paterson, Newcastle, Richmond, Whitlam, Cunningham, Solomon, Corio, Bendigo and Ballarat. Magically, they have no congestion at all. But I'll tell you where this magical congestion was: where 95 per cent of the funds in Western Australia went—that is, to every coalition seat. Not one single project went to a Labor seat. The marginal seat of Pearce received $11 million for five small projects. In Queensland, every coalition seat in Brisbane received funds. Meanwhile, apparently the seat of Griffith has no congestion. Take a drive down Annerley Road or Ipswich Road—all done! It's just open traffic. The skies are free wherever you go, time and time again.

Ms Swanson interjecting—

That's right! Level crossings—nothing to see here. We're just cruising around. In fact, you can just run into anyone because the roads are so free. This is utter rubbish. This fund was a slush fund on steroids. In fact, they know it and the government today has not proved once to defend against the fact that they only favoured LNP seats. They think that congestion stops when you enter a Labor seat. They are dreaming. I know from my own city and my own home state. If the coalition continue to do this, forget what the member for Moncrieff says—they're going to be in opposition for a very, very long time if this arrogance continues. (Time expired)

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