Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The government has introduced a Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, which has two parts. I thank the member for Wentworth for his question. The member for Wentworth might like to indicate or agree that I have discussed with him privately the circumstances of this program. I will go through the facts of this application. There is one section whereby every council receives an allocation of funding for local priorities. Woollahra has received $340,000 through this component. That funded $248,000 for the installation of a CCTV system, which was opened by Senator Michael Forshaw on 4 March 2010, and $91,000 for the construction of 85 metres of steel mesh fencing and safety handrails, which is underway.

The second component of this program is for larger competitive projects. The facts are these. We announced the funding for this second round on 25 June 2009. We released the guidelines for it on 9 October 2009 after consultation with the Australian Council of Local Government Steering Committee, made up of local government representatives. Indeed, we had another meeting with the ACLG Steering Committee just this morning for the third round of this program. We opened the application process on 2 November 2009 in accordance with the agreed guidelines and in consultation with local government. Applications closed on 15 January 2010. Councils had 14 weeks to formulate their applications to make sure that they fitted the guidelines and to get the details right.

Woollahra Council submitted an application of $2.2 million to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. I will go through, as I have privately with the member for Wentworth, what that was for. The majority of the funding they sought was for roadworks on Military Road in Watsons Bay that had specifically, as the member knows, been ruled out as being eligible for this program. We have the Roads to Recovery Program for local government for roads. The infrastructure program specifically ruled out roadworks, but the application included upgrades to the bus terminus on Military Road, a raised pedestrian crossing, a traffic island with water-saving devices underneath, underground cabling, five directional signs, six water-sensitive urban design plant beds, 10 tourist interpretation signs—

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