Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to associate myself with the remarks of Senator Moore—although I am not sure that Senator Moore will want to associate herself with the remarks I am about to make on a matter which is entirely different. It is well known there were certain features of the last election which were completely unprecedented in Australian history. One of course was the massive amounts of trade union money that was poured into election—$30 million, according to some figures I have seen. This was in fact more than the amount of money that was spent by either the Labor Party or the Liberal-National parties We have never seen this type of funding from a private group before, and we need to think very hard about what that means for the future of this country.

Less well known is the amount of pork-barrelling that the Labor Party did, particularly in marginal electorates during the campaign. I congratulate my colleague Senator Bernardi for his very keen interest in this matter and the work that he is doing. As a previous sports minister I too have taken particular interest in this matter and I want to put a few issues on the table in this chamber today. The first thing I think we should draw to the attention of the Senate is the massive scale of pork-barrelling which occurred in the last election by the Labor Party. Minister Ellis has admitted—I admit under some pressure—that there are over 100 projects which have been funded in the sport and recreational area and are valued at over $100 million. Why do I say this is unprecedented? From the figures I have seen, the infamous Ros Kelly sports rorts was $30 million, and we all know what happened in that area—$30 million versus $100 million that was pork-barrelled by the Labor Party in the last election.

The second issue I want to draw to the Senate’s attention is that not only did the Labor Party conduct itself in this fashion but there has been a huge effort to cover up what those election promises are. Those who can hark back to the 2004 election know that Senator Lundy was very active and quite critical of the previous government because, she alleged, they spent $2 million on some 30 projects in marginal seats. Again, you contrast those sorts of figures with the over 100 projects valued at over $100 million which apparently the Rudd Labor government promised in the last election.

It is very curious because, quite in line with the mandate of this Senate and with past practice, a great attempt has been made to ask the Labor Party to tell us what those election commitments are; what were the specific commitments that they made to particular groups. Each time we have tried do this we have been stymied. If I have got time I will go through the efforts the Labor Party has taken to ensure that these figures and these projects are not put on the public record. Senator Bernardi and I have been referred to: ‘All our election promises are on the public record.’ So you go to the public record. You go to the ALP website. It does not list these particular sporting grants. You go into the websites of some Labor members of parliament—I do not want to sound too suspicious about this—and there are some remarkable gaps, which relate to the last election. In the context where a government is trying to cover up an issue, people naturally become suspicious.

I have asked my office to go through and see whether we can identify these sports and recreational grants which were promised by the Labor Party in the last election. With a great deal of work, I now have a table prepared, which lists close to 100 grants valued at close to $100 million, from memory. I seek leave to incorporate this table in Hansard.

Leave not granted.

What a curious thing! Why wouldn’t leave be granted to incorporate a list of Labor Party election promises? I would have thought that the Labor Party would be proud of these promises. It does seem very strange that they are not prepared to have this list incorporated.

I am now going to have the list shown to the minister at the table, Minister Wong, and see whether we can persuade her, in the cause of transparency and open government, to have this table included in Hansard. Obviously, we can read it into the record tonight during the adjournment debate. And obviously we will provide the table to any journalists who would want such a table. I would point out to the minister that this is simply a list of election commitments that have been made by the Labor Party in the course of the last election campaign. We do not claim it to be a comprehensive list. In fact, because it has been taken from a variety of sources—things like Labor Party newsletters, speeches by Labor Party MPs and, of course, in some cases, tips from members of the public—we would not think that this would be a fully comprehensive list, and there may well be some errors in it. But, as the Labor Party has failed to provide a clear list of its commitments in the election, it seems to me that we must do so. And, since they have encouraged Senator Bernardi and me to go to the public record, that is precisely what we have done—we have gone to the public record, as far as we were able to go. Again, I seek leave—now that the minister at the table has seen the table—to incorporate the table inHansard.