Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I refer the minister, as she leaves the chamber, to her press release on 7 October 2022 in relation to the $640,000 grant given by the previous government to a $1.2 million project. The minister said:

I am thrilled to be here today to see this fantastic space and what our investment in critical regional tourism infrastructure means to the communities it benefits.

The minister was very keen to rush out and cut ribbons, to take credit for a project she had absolutely nothing to do with securing the funding for. Then she comes in here and pretends that the previous government did nothing. The previous government did nothing at all, according to the member for Eden-Monaro.

If you see a crane or a bulldozer or a grader working on any major public infrastructure project in Australia today that involves federal government funding, you can be sure of just one thing: this minister—this government—had absolutely nothing to do with it. In 15 months this government hasn't announced, designed, signed contracts on or started work on a single project. We asked the minister, when she gave her 10-minute address, to name just one project that she has started in her portfolio—or that the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government has started in her portfolio—and, in the entire 10 minutes, all she could do was announce projects that the previous coalition government had not only funded but started work on months—and sometimes years—ago.

We are seeing Labor ministers and duty senators rushing out to stand beside bulldozers on projects that were fully funded by the previous government. They've been rushing out there to cut the ribbons—don't stand between any of those ministers and a ribbon-cutting exercise—claiming credit for projects they had absolutely nothing to do with funding. They've been going to their own social media pages, gushing and extolling the virtues of these projects, and then coming in here saying, 'The other mob did nothing.' If you go and look at their social media pages and media releases, you realise that two of the worst offenders are the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. They're taking credit for work they had absolutely nothing to do with securing the funding for. The hypocrisy is quite breathtaking.

The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government is probably best on ground at this particular skill. In a recent press release we have her referring to the Bruce Highway upgrade between Caboolture-Bribie Island Road and Steve Irwin Way, which secured $530 million from the Commonwealth. This is the minister's quote from just the other day:

The Australian Government's investment is making a real difference to the safety, flood resilience and capacity of vital infrastructure.

That is 100 per cent true, but she had nothing to do with it! Then we had the minister strutting around in Cairns for the Cairns southern access road. The Australian government committed $428 million for that project and the minister was gushing in her praise, saying:

Whether it's through improvements to the Bruce Highway or our investments in the Black Spot Program or Roads to Recovery, we are delivering the upgrades that get people home safely, get people home quickly and support connected a community.

Again, she's 100 per cent right, but she had nothing to do with it—not a thing! That work started years ago. The minister comes in here, struts around and makes outrageous claims with the most breathtaking hypocrisy I've seen in my 15 years in this place. She claims credit for projects she's had absolutely nothing to do with.

Unfortunately, this minister can't even deliver a review on time. On 1 May this year she announced a 90-day review of the infrastructure pipeline. It's now 128 days later and what have we seen from this process? Nothing—no report, no transparency, no workers starting on new projects, because the minister can't even deliver her review on time. I've got to say: nothing is getting cheaper by waiting. Our communities are after these projects that will save lives and change lives, and this minister cannot do her day job and deliver the infrastructure projects we need in our communities.

I have a news flash for the minister: stop blaming those opposite. You've had the job for 15 months. If it's too hard, just quit—it will save us all the pain of going through this MPI again. Lives are being put at risk because you simply cannot deliver the projects that state and local government expect in our communities.

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