Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:33 pm
My question again is to the Prime Minister, and I refer to this leaked email from the office of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts which leaks the government’s 40 priority electorates. Prime Minister, doesn’t this email prove your broadband announcement is a pre-election political bandaid for the government’s most marginal seats? It explicitly lists Kingston, Stirling, Bonner, Macquarie, Bass, Deakin, Solomon, Wakefield, Makin, Hasluck, Moreton, Blair—
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The Leader of the Opposition has made his point. The Leader of the Opposition will come to his question.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Lindsay, Eden-Monaro, Page, Dobell, Braddon, McMillan—
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Which of them is a Labor seat, Prime Minister?
David Hawker Speaker
The Leader of the Opposition is well aware that he does not need to use that much preamble in his question. The leader will come to the final part of his question or I will call the next question.
Kevin Rudd Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Prime Minister, doesn’t this list of government marginals demonstrate that this exercise is primarily about short-term pre-election politics and not about the long-term policy needs of this nation when it comes to high-speed broadband?
David Hawker Speaker
Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The answer is no. The reason the answer is no is that—and if the Leader of the Opposition had not been so tricky he would not have omitted it—another part of the email says, ‘Following the completion of these top 40 electorates, the remainder will need to be completed.’