Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

McCORMACK () (): We have set the scene early. It's state election day this Saturday. Pre-polls opened on Saturday, just gone, and already Labor is out bashing the Perrottet-Toole government, saying they don't deserve to be re-elected, talking up Chris Minns, talking up Labor in the state. The last thing Australia needs is wall-to-wall red, wall-to-wall socialism! The last thing we need is to have a Labor government in Macquarie Street and a Labor government in Canberra. That's what the voters of New South Wales will get if the polls go that way this Saturday.

The Perrottet-Toole government deserves to be re-elected. We should be concentrating on federal matters in the federal parliament. But Labor—in true, typical Labor style—will spend all of this week talking up Labor in New South Wales. They'll spend all week disguising the fact that energy prices are going up and up and up on their watch. They'll spend all week talking about everything but what they should be doing. There will be one little rider: they'll be taking credit for AUKUS. They'll be taking credit for the subs deal, which came about because of a coalition federal government.

I'm glad that the shadow defence minister is at the table, because all of that Defence spending, all of those measures and the new pact between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, came about on the coalition's watch, as you'd expect it would. I'm also glad that the member for Eden-Monaro is at the table. When it comes to infrastructure in New South Wales and the black spot program for mobile phones, she did very well—she's nodding; she knows she did very well—yet 25 out of 26 of those mobile phone towers went to Labor seats. Talk about disingenuous! Talk about hypocritical! It is writ large with those opposite.

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