Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Sheldon, a very long-term advocate for transport infrastructure in New South Wales. Before answering Senator Sheldon, I give a shout-out to those in the public gallery. I can only imagine the joy you felt when you arrived here today and found out that House of Reps question time wasn't on and instead you'd be coming to the Senate, so we'll do our best to provide you with some relief.

The Albanese government is committed to delivering the infrastructure projects that grow productivity, create jobs and build a better life for Australians across our country. That is why we are reinvigorating Infrastructure Australia and are partnering with states, territories and local governments to invest in projects that will deliver the greatest benefits to people across Australia. Over the last decade, unfortunately, our nation saw the Infrastructure portfolio rorted by the Liberals and Nationals to pork-barrel their own seats while failing to deliver for the community.

It's always good to have interjections from Senator Rennick. We know he won't be here very long to make more of them.

We saw how the Liberals and Nationals treated Infrastructure Australia, ignoring its advice and stacking its board with its Liberal Party and Nationals mates. We all know how they used colour-coded spreadsheets to pick projects. That is simply how the Liberals and Nationals roll. They only focus on the projects that will benefit them politically—and listen to them bleat now. They never focus on projects that will actually benefit the community. At the Commonwealth level we saw this most clearly with the Urban Congestion Fund. This was a $4.8 billion program that allocated 83 per cent of its funding to Liberal held seats. It was meant to target pinch points and congestion in cities across the country—cities that people in the gallery live in—but 136 of the announced projects were in the Liberal held areas. In New South Wales we've seen pork-barrelling turned into an art form. From sports club grants to bushfire grants, is there anything that the New South Wales Liberal and National parties haven't sought to rort? This Saturday the voters of New South Wales have a chance to have their say, just as voters did last May. They can reject rorting, reject porkbarrelling and elect a Labor government. (Time expired)