Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have been visiting local community and sporting groups in my community that do such important work to provide spaces where we can all come together. I have seen at these clubs the need for more work to be done to upgrade some of our local facilities so that these organisations have the modern infrastructure they need to thrive. Having seen this need, it makes me furious to know that just over the river, in the member for Kooyong's electorate, the funding for sporting clubs seems to have been flowing fast. Between 2018 and 2021 the Treasurer's seat received $5.7 million in federal government grants. By stark contrast, my community in received just under $800,000. So, in the same three-year period, Liberal held Kooyong, just across the river, received more than seven times—that's right; seven times—more grant funding than my community. What a farce! What an absolute disgrace and show of disrespect to my community!

A tennis club and a bowling club in Kooyong each received $50,000 for lighting upgrades. I know of at least two clubs in Jagajaga that would love to have that kind of support. A cricket club in Kooyong received $30,000 for electronic scoreboards. There are at least three clubs in Jagajaga which would be chasing funding for those scoreboards.A football club in Kooyong received $88,000 for female-friendly facilities. That kind of funding would make a big difference to local clubs, including Heidelberg United. I'm not suggesting these clubs aren't doing great things in Kooyong; I'm sure they are. But there is no credible explanation for why federal grants funding in Kooyong is seven times what it is in Jagajaga, other than that this Liberal government is concerned about keeping the Treasurer's seat.

We need a national anticorruption commission. Our communities deserve to know where their money is being spent and that it's being spent fairly and based on need. The Morrison government have had three years to introduce a national anticorruption commission, yet now, in the dying days of this parliament, they tell us, 'Oops, sorry; we've run out of time.' It's not a priority apparently. We can spend weeks and weeks debating other things, but they can't bring legislation for a national anticorruption commission. It is just not good enough. They've squibbed out of it. They've finally admitted that they've squibbed out of it and that they won't be doing it. Well, Labor will get it done. We will introduce a powerful, independent national anticorruption commission. We will make sure that this country gets the government it deserves and that my community gets its fair share.

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