Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about two issues, and I am glad the member for Shortland is here because one of those issues surrounds her. With the budgets of recent times under the Howard government, straight after the budget there would be a cry from the Labor members in the Hunter for $30 million for a football stadium at EnergyAustralia Stadium. The member for Shortland is sitting there grinning. She knows—she was a part of that chorus for $30 million from the federal government: they said it was a federal responsibility to put $30 million in. Well, when Labor members come to the treasury bench, what do the people of Newcastle get? Ten million dollars—although that is not the issue.

All the while, the state Labor government in New South Wales kept saying to the people that it was a federal responsibility to cough up $30 million. So federal Labor get to the treasury bench and all of a sudden it is $10 million. This week, without a whimper, the state government turned up with the additional $20 million. What it has proven is that Labor has committed a fraud over the last few years against the people of the Hunter region by denying them the stadium they deserve, because Morris Iemma, and before him Bob Carr, refused to accept the responsibility for the funding. What is amazing is that the member for Shortland, the member for Newcastle, the member for Hunter and the previous member for Charlton refused to take the commitments up to the state Premier. They accepted the argument without question that this was a federal responsibility.

Now I want to get to the second point, having shown that Labor had let the people down at that stage. The second point is the F3 Link Road. To quote the member for Hunter’s webpage: ‘For 18 years I have been supporting and pushing for the F3 Link Road.’ The week before the election, the Howard government committed to the funding to complete the F3 Link Road. I had always said—and this road is not in my electorate—that once the roadworks in my electorate were underway I would support the link road. That has happened. So we announced the funding—and there was not a word from the member for Hunter, not a word from any of the Labor members. But when they got to the treasury bench, guess what happened: ‘We’re not going to fund that. It’s not important. We now need to do another study to work out a cheaper option.’ So for 18 years the member for Hunter pushed a project—he got to the treasury bench and then nothing. There is $1 million for another study. What about the tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money that have already been spent on studies and acquiring properties, leading people to believe there would be a new route from Seahampton to Branxton? This is a fraud upon the people of the Hunter. (Time expired)