Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a shame that the people in the gallery were not there for Senator O'Neill's contribution earlier, when she was speaking with great eloquence and great passion about the $150 million that is now being removed under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. We have just heard Senator Bilyk going on about this $150 million being carved out of the budget. Unfortunately for those who were in the gallery earlier, they will not hear this news: do you know what the then Labor government had done with the $150 million? They had cut it out completely. They had removed the $150 million. There was nothing. There was zip. The bucket was empty.

I congratulate Senator Abetz on his response to Senator Carr's question, when he actually read out a document provided to him by the Minister for Finance. Way back in the budget last year, do you know what the coalition had done? We actually put the $150 million in there. Isn't that amazing?