Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I find myself compelled to draw the attention of the House to my disappointment in some comments made by an elected Labor councillor on the Liverpool City Council, who is also a former Greens candidate. The councillor has used the website of the South West Sydney Community Alliance, a website that in its current form is being used to campaign against the construction of two giant intermodal rail freight terminals in Moorebank. The website's domain, I understand, is owned by this councillor. He has used this website as a platform for extremist statements. I completely disassociate myself from the extremist statements and completely condemn the councillor concerned for making them. It is very concerning that Liverpool City Council have used ratepayers' funds to pay for posters and bumper stickers advertising this site, unaware it has been used to express these deranged conspiracy theories. Further, such extremist statements not only are irrelevant to the fight against the intermodal terminals but are counterproductive and undermine our cause. They are not befitting of a person holding an elected office in Australia. I hope that others involved in highlighting the folly of building two giant intermodal freight rail hubs in the middle of a residential area also condemn and distance themselves from these statements. Nonetheless, I will continue the fight against the intermodal terminals being built in this inappropriate location and I will do so using logic, reason and scientific facts, not irrelevant extremist statements. (Time expired)