Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

A quarter of a billion—$250 million. There was $100 million in sports rorts 1 and $150 million in sports rorts 2 to buy themselves an election, and then they try to keep the whole thing behind closed doors, secret from the parliament. Sadly, this is what is eroding trust in the community in our political process. Honestly—does this government not care about the quality of our democracy, the quality of public debate, the trust in politicians? Unfortunately, it isn't just the government that wears this opprobrium; it's everyone who wants to do the right thing in public service, because it is an erosion of trust in our political system.

The majority of this chamber agreed that the documents we requested today should be made public. So where are they? They're not here. Senator Colbeck spent a whole 40 seconds in the chamber today dismissing the idea that these documents could be made public. Senator Payne wasn't much better: two minutes and 10 seconds, in which she explained to us some dubious advice that she was relying on and which meant she didn't have to tell us what was really going on. I've got to say, when normal Australians—one might call them quiet Australians—have a job they're required to turn up. They're required to turn up and do their job. If you are a nurse and your shift starts at midnight, you've got to be there. If you have what might be called a usual business day job and it starts at 9 am, your boss expects you to be there. If your task that day is to produce a report, your boss expects you to do it. This is what normal—one might say quiet—Australians do every day in their jobs. But, again, the rules that apply to normal, quiet Australians—everyday Australians who get on every day and live their lives and raise their families and play by the rules when they put in sports grants applications and show up on time at work and do the work their bosses expect—don't apply to those opposite. They didn't show up today: in 40 seconds Senator Colbeck was out of here and in two minutes and 10 seconds Senator Payne was out of here. And they didn't produce the reports that they were required to by this chamber.

The thing is, our bosses here in this chamber are the Australian people. They are the Australian people, and the Australian people, when they participated in these sports applications, did expect that, 'Hey, my application's going to be taken on its merits.' For example, there was a sports club that has women's teams currently changing in a tent. The Prime Minister went to the Press Club and he said this program—this is the marketing spin the Prime Minister puts on it—was specifically designed to ensure that girls didn't have to change out the back and in cars. Well, there was a club that we know about in this program. They currently have a women's team. They're changing in a tent. They were highly rated by Sport Australia. Did they get funding? No.