Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians want solutions, and they want a government that governs for all. They want a government that's responsible and they want a government that is accountable.

Those opposite seem to have forgotten their record on infrastructure. This government inherited a lot of promises, but these promises rarely had a delivery plan. There was a $120 billion infrastructure pipeline full of under-costed commitments. Many projects were left without adequate funding and were of no real benefit to the public, and too many projects were never started because they were unable to be delivered.

So let me take you on a little survey of the opposition's history on infrastructure spending, or the lack thereof. When I think of the previous government's infrastructure spending, my mind is immediately drawn to pork-barrelling. What was the previous government's record? What those opposite did was to deliver thought-bubbles, without the investment to back them up. When they did decide to spend money on infrastructure, they left a trail of rorts and waste behind them.

Let's start locally, in the electorate of Werriwa. The Leppington Triangle was purchased for approximately $30 million. In anyone's language, that's a lot of money. It was! It was 10 times what it was worth. And what about commuter car parks? That even has its own Wikipedia article. Not only were car parks grossly overpriced, but many were targeted to Liberal-held seats. The list could go on: sports rorts; the Napoleon Road upgrade; the Wellington Road duplication; the North Sydney pool.

This Albanese government could not be more different from those previous coalition governments. We take seriously our responsibility to govern for all Australians fairly and equitably. The most recent budget handed down by the Treasurer demonstrates the Albanese government's focus on delivering transformational infrastructure. We want to deliver projects, not press releases. And we want to deliver them on time and on budget, because that's what responsible government does, and it's what our Australian people expect.

I am delighted that the Albanese Labor government is continuing to invest in nation-building infrastructure, including $1.6 billion for the M12 Motorway, a road that will provide access to Western Sydney airport for workers and tourists. And on a smaller but just as important scale, the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program will deliver funding to fix local roads in Werriwa. In my community, councils will receive over $5 million to fix potholes and make our roads safer. These investments will make a real difference; they'll make it safer for motorists and quicker to get to work.

We are a multicultural country, and I am proud to represent one of the most multicultural communities in Australia. When the Albanese Labor Party came into government there were almost one million visa applications. As we heard from the minister today, that's been reduced by 40 per cent. Under the stewardship of the then minister for immigration, the current Leader of the Opposition, the path to permanency was deliberately made harder, leading to a greater reliance on temporary migration and causing heartache to the people who live in Werriwa. I can't count how many people I've had in my office in tears because of the previous government's policy.

The migration review found that the previous government's efforts to plan for the impact of population growth from migration was insufficient—the perfect characterisation of the previous government's decision-making. And for all the noise that those opposite are making about immigration, the numbers do not lie: the Australian population is forecast to be significantly smaller than was forecast by the former government.

We do have a plan to manage the effects of population growth over the next few years. The Albanese government is working with states and territories to better coordinate migration, housing supply and infrastructure, while the budget delivers an additional $2 billion for small social and affordable housing. And if those opposite really cared about housing, they would have voted for the Housing Australia Future Fund.

This MPI shows us that those opposite have learnt little over the last 12 months. The Australian people want an Australia where no-one is left behind and no-one is held back. The Australian people rejected the political games of those opposite. They want responsible government that gets on with the serious task of governing for all, and that's what the Albanese government is delivering.

See this speech in context