David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

In December 2021, when the now Prime Minister was not the Prime Minister, he said: 'Taxpayers deserve better than to have their funds, their taxpayer funds from their hard work, funnelled into marginal electorates on the basis of a political whim.' That's what he said in 2021 when he wasn't the Prime Minister. But the Auditor-General's report into round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot Program released last week reveals some very different things. On page 66, it shows that 81 per cent of the sites personally chosen for funding by Minister Rowland are in marginal electorates—81 per cent! But the PM had previously said that it shouldn't be a consideration. It's very confusing. Then, on page 65, the Auditor-General shows that 74 per cent of all the electorates chosen are Labor electorates. It just doesn't square with what the Prime Minister so earnestly said in 2021. On page 74, the Auditor-General shows—this is a good one—that, in Victoria, 100 per cent of the funds went to marginal seats and 100 per cent of them are in Labor electorates. On page 73, the Auditor-General shows that, in New South Wales, 100 per cent of the funds allocated went to marginal seats and 100 per cent of those seats are in Labor electorates. It is a shameful program, and the government must apologise.

See this speech in context