Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The problem with the motion from the member for Mallee, the comments from the member for Bowman and the comments from the member for Groom is this: they want to look at the current situation but ignore the long history of the failure of successive coalition governments in the area of supporting local government. Who can forget the 12,000-page, three-volume audit, by the Auditor-General in the ANAO reports, of the former coalition government under John Howard and its discredited regional partnerships program which found that one-third of funding went to just 10 coalition electorates. That came out, by the way, in July 2010.

Then, of course, we brought in the regional and local community infrastructure program. We responded to the global financial crisis, and our nation built the economic stimulus plan, which those opposite in large part didn't support. It was a $550 million investment in community infrastructure focusing on local government. In my area—during that time I was the federal MP—got much-needed support for local government. We got upgrades, for example, to the Ipswich Civic Centre and a whole range of other upgrade projects, including the Condensery project for an art gallery up in the Somerset region. There are just so many I could list, but I won't.

The coalition gets in in 2013. They don't want to know about this. But Joe Hockey, the member for North Sydney at the time, and Mathias Cormann, the finance minister—Tony Abbott was the Prime Minister—froze the indexation of local government payments year after year after year. First, it was three years. Then it went up to 2018-19. The Local Government Association railed against it. Nearly a billion dollars of funding which would have gone into local government in untied financial assistance grants and other programs was stopped. It didn't get there. It wasn't delivered. Those opposite, including the member for Mallee, who brings this motion, would have you believe that they should not even look at that. But that's the history of two coalition governments over two long periods: regional partnerships, rorts and, of course, the failure of three prime ministers—Abbot, Turnbull and Morrison—on indexation. That's egregious failure on local government. So this motion, which talks about reviews and talks about 'looking at' et cetera, fails to address the fact that the coalition has a shocking record in this area.

Now we have a Prime Minister who was the minister for local government during that time I referred to and was dealing with the global financial crisis. We support a strong and sustainable local government sector. We referred the matter of local government financial sustainability to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport for inquiry. The federal election put the inquiry on hold. The standing committees will be re-established in due course, and I am assured, as a member of government, that there are plans to refer the matter of local government sustainability for inquiry, and I support that. I think that's a terrific idea. I think it's really critical.

We have provided $3.3 billion in direct investment to local government this year through financial assistance grants to ensure councils have ready access to the funds they rely on. We've doubled the Roads to Recovery funding, and I could show, all over my electorate, local projects that are being done. Over the next five years, there will be a billion dollars annually to help local councils in long-term maintenance and upgrades to the road network—everything from potholes through to turns that are necessary across the area.

I'm chair of the black spot consultative panel in Queensland. I have seen what projects councils put up, and I know how important road safety projects are in my local community and across my home state of Queensland. We are not doing what the coalition says we're doing. We're streamlining and merging the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and the Bridges Renewal Program into a safer local roads and community infrastructure project program with at least $200 million available every year, providing a $50 million boost.

Those opposite didn't talk about that increased funding. They froze indexation; we increased funding. We did it during the global financial crisis when we brought forward the funding, and we've provided additional funding and brought forward assistance in the financial assistance grants. What did those opposite do? They didn't really support it at all. In fact, they voted against the second tranche in the stimulus package.

In politics, you look at what people do. You don't just look at what people say. The coalition has a shocking record on local government over the last 20 or 30 years.

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