Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday, the Albanese Labor government and the Allan Labor government made an announcement. They said that the Western Highway duplication between Buangor and Ararat was going to be finished. Communities right along the Western Highway thought: 'Gee, this is wonderful. We're finally going to get this piece of highway built.' Sadly, people have died because this hasn't been built and multiple people have been injured as well. So everyone thought, 'This is great news.' But then, sadly, we started looking at the detail. It will be done after the November Victorian state election. So everyone went, 'What sort of a commitment is this?' Then, when you read the fine print, it says it's dependent on final approvals.

So, after year upon year of nothing, all of a sudden, as we're heading towards the November state election—and the seat of Ripon, as we know, is a marginal seat—Labor's out here saying, 'We're going to fix this.' But will they fix it now? No. Will they get a shovel in the ground? No. What are they doing now? They're promising it after the state election, and they haven't even got all the approvals finalised. You, sadly, cannot believe a word that the Albanese Labor government says, let alone the— (Time expired)

See this speech in context