Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—Thank you to both sides. I would like to clarify this so that we can move on and conclude the debate. I was certainly aware of the amendment which we were debating—the one that was written by hand on the back of an envelope, as you put it, Senator Macdonald. I apologise that I was out of the room at the time. I have been advised that essentially the amendment is somewhat redundant as some of this funding is destined for metropolitan areas. It therefore would be a little curious for the minister to be considering how the project benefits regional Australia when not all of these projects will be occurring in regional Australia. The minister can correct me, I suppose, if that is an incorrect reading of the amendment, but that is certainly the intention with which we support the government’s amendment.