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

When a person says something but does not do it themselves, it is known as hypocrisy. But when a group of people say something and don't do it themselves, it is known as the Australian Labor Party. The hypocrisy of those opposite is most evident with the Stronger Communities Programme, which was a huge success under the previous coalition government, with more than 15,000 projects completed, in every electorate around Australia. We know it was a huge success because those opposite want to share in the glory.

I did a little bit of social media stalking on the weekend—I know, I need to get a life. I was checking out some of the Facebook pages of the front bench and it was informative when it came to the Stronger Communities Programme. They loved it. They took credit for it. They had their photos taken with the community. They made certificates with their names on them. They had big cheques posted on their Facebook pages. They loved the program so much that they abolished the whole thing—talk about hypocrisy. Everyone from the Prime Minister to the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, the minister for local government, the education minister, the infrastructure minister and to the Minister for Social Services—every minister I bothered searching for—had something positive to say about the Stronger Communities Programme.

And they abolished it! In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, they've abolished a program that was taking pressure off community groups and they're putting that pressure back on Australian families. The collective noun for hypocrisy is the Australian Labor Party.