Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. How are community representatives responding to the government’s infrastructure plans to support local communities, businesses and jobs today and into the future?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for his question. The Rudd government are indeed delivering our $800 million Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, the largest local infrastructure program in Australia’s history. We said it would support jobs, we said it would support local economies and we said it would make local communities even better places to live in. So it is no surprise that we have had mayors and community leaders, government members who voted for the package and Independent members who voted for the package lobbying for particular projects in their local community.

But here today we have again heard the opposition say that the $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan is a waste of money—that it will not create a single job and that it will not achieve anything in terms of stimulating the economy. Indeed, when members from that side of the House arrive in Canberra they are pretty consistent on this. The member for Gippsland went out on 26 February and held a little doorstop interview. There he attacked the package and called it a ‘very low quality spend of taxpayers money’. That is pretty consistent with what we have heard today, yesterday and last week—and what we heard during the debate on the Nation Building and Jobs Plan. But they are a bit different when it comes to their electorate. The very same member for Gippsland has written me a letter supporting a $3.25 million proposal from that very program. In this letter he says, and I quote accurately:

In the context of the goals for your economic stimulus package, the project will be labour intensive and stimulate local jobs and the wider economy.

You are right, Member for Gippsland; you are absolutely correct. He says one thing in Canberra and another thing in his electorate.

But he is not alone. Stephen Parry, who I understand is a Liberal senator from Tasmania, has said the following about a project:

Not only is it an environmental initiative but this project would have immediate benefits in addressing the global economic crisis by injecting funds into the municipality for the rollout of the infrastructure.

But it is not just them—I have had letters from the member for Maranoa, the member for La Trobe, the member for Paterson, the member for Canning, the member for Tangney, the member for Bowman and the member for Bradfield. Some have got really carried away—the member for Wannon has written me three letters for three projects. He understands the reality, which is that the Nation Building and Jobs Plan is good for jobs and is good for local economies.

Of course, you have to look at the detail of what they actually do rather than what they say, because they are pretty tricky. They are tricky when it comes to Work Choices, which they cannot break away from; they are tricky when it comes to climate change, where they say they want action but they oppose the CPRS; they were tricky when it came to saying all of last year that they wanted to give extra money to pensioners, but now they are out there bagging the December stimulus package and not associating it with the extra money that went to pensioners, carers and veterans. You have to actually look at what they do. We saw an example of it again today when we had two questions asked relating to the forum that I hold regularly with the member for North Sydney on the Steve Price program. On the first one they did not throw in a quote at all, so you know that that has no credibility. On the second one—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Read it out!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I will read it out. Steve Price said this, accurately:

Well, the restaurant industry today is predicting 1,000 restaurants will close and 2½ thousand jobs will disappear if this becomes law.

Then I went on to say:

Well, they were all going to disappear over various other issues from time to time as well and … it didn’t happen.

STEVE PRICE: Well, hang on. The restaurant industry is saying—

ALBANESE: Well …

STEVE PRICE: … they are going to lose 1,000 restaurants and 2½ thousand workers.

ALBANESE: Well, absolute nonsense. Absolute nonsense.

STEVE PRICE: That’s not going to happen?

ALBANESE: We operated as a country, as a nation, with a fair industrial and balanced industrial relations system pre Work Choices for a century. In many of the IR issues we were ahead of the world. We operated fairly, people were employed and we have nothing to fear from a fair balance in the workplace.

‘We have nothing to fear from a fair balance in the workplace’—and indeed we don’t, which is why the Australian people at the last election voted for a fair balance in the workplace.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table my copy of the transcript and I ask that the Leader of the House does it with his. You table your transcript!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for North Sydney will resume his seat.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order, the minister was quoting from a transcript. I ask that he table it.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was the minister quoting from a document?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am happy to table the pages of the transcript which refer to the direct quotes.