David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I'm glad to see the level of engagement from those opposite. Mr Fordham goes on to say:

Okay. Is it correct that you hand-picked every one of the sites in Round 6?

The minister replies:

Well, Ben, let's again be clear. This was based on community feedback—

Mr Fordham:

Yeah yes. You've told us that stuff Minister. Now, we're moving on to whether or not you hand-picked the sites. Yes or no?

The minister:

Well, this was based on community feedback and—

Fordham:

You've told us about the feedback, Minister.

Minister:

Myself as the Shadow Minister for Communications working with those candidates and MPs decided that these were areas that we chose to—

Fordham:

All right. So, you hand-picked them, yeah?

Minister:

Well, certainly, as the Shadow Minister at the time—

Fordham:

Certainly. All right. I'll put that down as a yes, yeah?

Minister:

Please do.

So this was the first time that the minister had explicitly acknowledged hand-picking the 54 sites and, indeed, that all 27 in New South Wales were in Labor electorates. It raises a number of very concerning questions, obviously.

The minister has refused to provide a single document in relation to an FOI application on round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot Program—no documents. So will the minister reverse her decision and allow the public access to the documents held by her office on the program? If not, why not? The Auditor-General has said that there is merit in a potential audit of round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot Program. If the minister won't publicly release those documents under FOI, will she provide them now to the Auditor-General to assist in his assessment of this issue, and if not, why not? (Time expired)

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