Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

and more sustainable communities, you will be pleased to know, Senator Williams, including pipelines and the dams, where they are sustainable. As I said yesterday, I saw a very good project in Townsville that needs financing. Everywhere around this country, when you talk to the locals and go to the cities you see the need to invest in infrastructure in Australia. The IMF, Glenn Stevens, Saul Eslake, John Hewson—one of the biggest supporters—and even Alan Kohler the other night on TV are saying why don't politicians make the most of this historic opportunity to borrow money at record low interest rates and invest in the future of this nation?

Unlike Senator Cormann in his answers to my questions today, I say that these rates can be locked in. With the right kind of financing structures we can do it. But the only reason we do not do this and are not embarking on a nation-building infrastructure program is because of the debate around debt. Debt is a dirty word. If you have come through the ranks as a young Liberal—

Government senators interjecting—