Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much for the question. There is no doubt that it is incredibly important for our local councils to have certainty. I think what happened over the last 10 years is that there was no certainty because those opposite needed a colour coded spreadsheet to actually deal with any applications from councils. We have 546 local councils across the country. What we saw was councils spending time and money applying for grants and they were never assessed on their merits because you guys needed a colour coded spreadsheet. You know that councils have limited budgets, and what you did to them was put them through a process where they expended money, they expended ratepayers money, expecting they'd have a fair and transparent process and you never delivered one.

Honourable members interj ecting—

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