Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw, Deputy President, but that's the reality of the situation—that those over there, when they were ministers, spent more money supporting their own electorates when it came to sporting infrastructure than they actually did on public transport.

We're actually used to Senator Pocock and the Greens coming in and performing stunts. We accept that. That's their role. That's what they do. But for the opposition to be supporting this and actually absolving themselves of any responsibility for being a responsible opposition is testament to where they are. We saw the result from South Australia on the weekend, where the Liberal Party went backwards. They have become the electoral bonsai tree: they keep clipping back their branches and getting smaller. That's actually not the way to get into government. If you continue to behave like this—if you continue to perform like this in opposition—the Australian people will see it for exactly what it is. They took a while to actually land on where they would vote on this motion, but it does show you the depths of opposition that they are in.

The government don't engage in stunts. We are actually dealing with the challenges that we're facing, and we're dealing with them in the immediate sense. We're dealing with fuel at the moment, and we have come up with a plan to ensure that we're doing what we can to support Australian people and industry in this regard. What have we, the Albanese government, done in terms of our broad range of actions on fuel? We are empowering the ACCC to protect motorists from unfair price rises, boosting fuel supply by releasing 20 per cent of the baseline minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel, acting to get more fuels into the Australian market by temporarily amending the fuel standards, and working closely with industry and with states and territories to ensure this fuel gets where it's needed most, particularly in regional communities. So that is actually the record of what the federal government have been doing—dealing with the challenge that we face and using every apparatus of government to ensure we're doing what we can to support the Australian community.

But we also understand the long-term view of what we need to do to support infrastructure in this country and public transport in particular. I'm surprised Senator Pocock didn't mention the support that we've put into Canberra light rail: $343.9 million into stage 2A of Canberra light rail and $50 million for the planning of stage 2B. We have put in $5.6 billion for the Metronet in Perth, $5.1 billion for Sydney Metro to Western Sydney airport, and $2.2 billion for Suburban Rail Loop, with more to come. One billion dollars has been allocated to extend the rail network in Sydney's south-west. There is $659 million for the next stage of high-speed rail, along with $100 million through the Active Transport Fund, which I know, from talking to councils around the country, is very, very popular because they understand how important it is to have those options. And we have provided $115 million for tranche 1 of the Macquarie Park depot for zero-emissions buses and $100 million for the Western Sydney Rapid Bus Infrastructure Upgrade.

So we are an actual government that is actually delivering public transport infrastructure by working constructively with councils and states to ensure that we're delivering the things that are going to make a difference. When you look at what the government is actually doing, we're dealing with the immediate challenge that we're facing when it comes to petrol, but we also have that longer term view of the importance of public transport infrastructure in this country and doing what we can to work constructively with councils and state and territory governments around the country. That is the record of this government. It's a proud one, and we won't be lectured to by stunts from Senator Pocock and the Greens or, indeed, the hypocrisy from the opposition when it comes to this matter.