Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to be able to speak on this motion. In fact, it's welcome that we have the opportunity to talk about these important issues around government expenditure. All Australian money that the government raises comes from the taxpayer, so it should be spent judiciously and prudently in the best interests of the advancement of Australians. The comparison between this side of the chamber and that side of the chamber is that we always think about how it is we can enlarge the best interests of the whole of the Australian population.

You just need to take the federal electorate of Goldstein as but one example. Under Labor governments, we get resources and commitments and financial support for our community at levels that are—I won't use the expression because it would be unparliamentary—virtually non-existent. But all members in this chamber get financial support to support their communities, including in this difficult time.

In fact, members may recall that, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a community-wide program was allocated to just about every single council across the country to enable investment in local infrastructure at a critical time when councils needed assistance and support and local projects needed to be produced, to ensure that local communities got the financial support that they needed. I presume that's what the members on the other side of the chamber are arguing against. They don't want a fair and equitable distribution of resources for community infrastructure in their electorates. Of course, they'll never mention that because, if they did, it would not be consistent with the farcical narrative they bring into this chamber.

I will say this: I was out of the chamber, but a number of members have mentioned to me that the member for Whitlam took particular opportunity to refer to the wonderful electorate of Goldstein during his address, in particular using an expression 'drinking one's own bathwater'. I concede that I had never heard that expression before. I raced to look it up as fast as the press gallery had to race to look up what Kim Beazley meant when he uttered the expression 'boondoggle'. It seems to allege that, as a member in this place, I believe my own fantasies.

Leaving aside those allegations, they seem very familiar to me. I recall that, at the last election, similar sentiments were conveyed by members opposite when I was arguing and campaigning very aggressively against their retiree tax. They kept arguing that my position was a fantasy, despite our constantly putting up Australians all across the country and giving them a platform to voice their own concerns. While they were busy seeking to push 80-year-olds down the financial stairs, we were standing up and giving them a voice. If that's what they mean by 'drinking one's own bathwater', I humbly accept the criticism. Some of us are unafraid to stand up for our communities. Some of us are unafraid to stand up for our country and its best interests.

I note that some of the members previously were talking about the wonderful electorate of Goldstein and the allocation of funding under the Urban Congestion Fund to the City of Glen Eira. In fact, recently, this did become a mild point of controversy, as the City of Glen Eira argued that the investment in the upgrades of commuter car parking at the Bentleigh and Elsternwick stations was unwelcome, despite the fact it was the largest grant ever allocated to the City of Glen Eira. We had Councillor Li Zhang argue against this funding. Is it any surprise that she happens to be a Labor councillor? Councillor Dr David Zyngier, who is a Greens councillor, argued the same. And there was Councillor Tony Athanasopoulos, who is also a Labor councillor.

But my favourite one was the deputy Mayor, Councillor Jim Magee, who was reported in the Nine press as saying:

Councillor Jim Magee said the council didn't ask for the money nor did it have to compete for it "like we always have to do to get government funding" with detailed submissions and heavy lobbying.

"We will gratefully accept money as long as it’s upfront, legitimate and it's for a worthy cause that council has identified as a priority. This council didn't note any of those two car parks as a priority. And this council didn't actually ask for that money."

So what did I do? I went back and flicked through my files before the last election and asked, 'Where did we come up with this ingenious idea that was not received by proposal or by priority?' It just so happens that we had a proposal from the City of Glen Eira, saying that this was a priority project as part of their urban congestion-busting strategy. That's the approach this government takes: priorities, community, outcomes. (Time expired)

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