Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly, I am; I could be here all week because there are so many rorts, Minister, that we could talk about. But this is an example of this cavalier approach to the use of money being picked up from that part of the government benches and spread out over here. We can definitely get a sense, too, of the outrage from the general public about the way in which this has happened. They know this is a big issue: sports rorts and road rorts and the fact that people are missing out. People, in good faith, are putting in applications, wanting either to upgrade their local sports ground or to see infrastructure in their area upgraded; they believe they've got a good case; and they're denied. Why? Because, again, it's a government that only spends to save itself, as opposed to helping the Australian people. It's not good enough. In the urban infrastructure program, we've seen the member for Robertson do very well, but that's only one part of the Central Coast; that's not a broad approach to dealing with the Central Coast. People there are stuck in cars for hours, travelling from the Central Coast to Sydney for work, or on trains that they're forced to use because they don't want to use the roads. But only one part of the Central Coast gets the benefit of an urban infrastructure funding program. That goes to show you: this is not needs based; it's not evidence based; it's politically based; and it's got to end. Again, this is a budget that doesn't reflect a plan, an idea, a clue or a care for the people of Australia.

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