House debates

Thursday, 21 February 2019

Statements by Members

Minister for Regional Services, Sport, Local Government and Decentralisation

1:39 pm

Photo of Joanne RyanJoanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Not confined to the Liberal Party, the Nationals have signed up to this credo: one rule for them, another for the rest of the country. After all, they're a coalition in everything.

Enter Senator Bridget McKenzie. In September 2018 this senator spent $14,000 of taxpayers' money on a private jet to watch basketball with Prince Charles. Not to be finished there, in February we learned that she'd spent $20,000 of taxpayers money on a private plane to watch an ice hockey match. Let's face it, this is supposedly the age when entitlement was over and the choppergate scandal was finished. But, no.

It's no wonder that those opposite don't support Labor's housing affordability measures; let's face it, $37,000 is a deposit on an affordable house in my electorate. What am I supposed to say, Senator McKenzie, to the young people in my electorate who are saving for a house deposit? What am I supposed to say to them, when they're lining up at an auction and bidding against someone who already owns six homes? I'll tell them that Senator McKenzie, the Victorian senator, doesn't care about housing affordability. Why should she? She's on the bandwagon: one rule for them and another for the rest of this country.