Category: News

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese denies there were any injustices and says funding decisions were based on departmental advice following independent assessments.

Mr Albanese says the four biggest grants went to projects held by Coalition or independent MPs.

“There’s no political bias in this program,” he said.

“Secondly, there’s no wastage in this program and thirdly, by funding through local government what we haven’t done is fund private projects like the former regional partnerships program, where money simply went missing, where we had funding for ethanol plants that didn’t exist or funding for cheese factories that had closed down.”

He says the discrepancy is nothing to do with Labor bias.

“When you’re talking about economic stimulus through large community infrastructure projects, then larger councils will tend to receive the funding, whether they be larger councils in regional cities or in urban communities,” he said.

But the Coalition’s infrastructure spokesman Barnaby Joyce says the auditor’s report tells a different story.

“It sounds like Mr Albanese hasn’t read the auditor-general’s report,” he said.

“The approval of projects in ALP held seats was 42.1 per cent, compared to 18.4 per cent in Coalition-held seats.

“They’ve headed back towards the process of find your seat, get the white board out and approve the projects regardless of their own guidelines, the guidelines that they set up for themselves.

“This is nothing more than a dirty Labor Party stack, a dirty Labor Party approach to bribing the electorate to vote for them again.”

But the Government says a lot of money went to projects in electorates held by Coalition or independent MPs.

In the beachside suburb of Manly there is a new plaque by a popular walking path, which says upgrades to the promenade were made possible by the Federal Government’s Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program.

Manly Council chief executive Henry Wong says the funding paid for landscaping and facilities for children along the beach front, which sees about eight million visitors a year.

He says he was not worried that the fact that Manly is in the electorate of current Opposition Leader Tony Abbott might mean the project would not be funded.

“Not at all. The Rudd Government at right outset indicated that applications for funding will be assessed on their merits and we believe that and certainly it comes through as that,” he said.

Tags: industry, building-and-construction, government-and-politics, elections, federal-government, political-parties, labor-party, liberal-party, nationals, federal-elections, australia, nsw

July 28th 2010

Greens call for national rural land and water register

Speaking in Orange, NSW today Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown called
for a national register of foreign purchases of land or water in rural
Australia.

“In the coming century food and fibre production will be a huge issue as
the world population soars to 10 billion people or more,” said Senator
Brown.

“It is important Australians know who owns the productive farmlands and
water rights of our country.

“Currently there is no register except in Queensland nor any vetting of
foreign ownership by the Foreign Investment Review Board except for
purchases in excess of $231 million.

“New Zealand has had a register since 1988 and Australia should catch
up.

“Ownership can lead to control of markets for food and therefore food
prices so it’s important we know who owns what,” Senator Brown said.

Yesterday Deputy Leader Christine Milne also called for the ACCC to
assess the impacts of food processor mergers and takeovers and called
for an inquiry into National Competition Policy.

Media contact Peter Stahel 0459 133 597
www.greensmps.org.au

Erin Farley
Media Adviser
Senator Bob Brown | Leader of the Australian Greens
Suite SG-112 Parliament House, Canberra ACT 
P: 02 6277 3577 | M: 0438 376 082| F: 02 6277 3185
http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/| www.GreensMPs.org.au
<http://www.greensmps.org.au/> 

And it appears the struggles of the State Government may be to blame for NSW missing out again on funding for key projects to tackle the city’s worsening congestion.

In a sign federal campaign officials are terrified by the toxicity of the NSW Government, Labor’s best asset in NSW, Kristina Keneally, has been put on ice for the first two weeks of the campaign. So far Ms Gillard has campaigned beside Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has appeared alongside WA Premier Colin Barnett.

But Ms Keneally was forced to make the announcement of $6.3 million in federal funding for medical equipment and beds for Concord Hospital with the federal Labor Member for Lowe John Murphy.

Some state MPs have been deliberately kept away from federal candidate functions for fear of association with the most unpopular government in the country. “You’d have to be pretty dumb to lump your lot with the crew on the Titanic,” one senior Labor source said.

The source said it was also hard to justify federal funding for state infrastructure projects when NSW had been ranked so lowly by the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Australia.

The State Government is desperate to announce either the $4.5 billion M5 duplication or $10 billion M4 East by the end of the year.

Ms Keneally has said the projects would be possible with federal funds.

Yesterday, Ms Gillard directed $742 million to a new rail line in Brisbane’s northern suburbs, while earlier this month Infrastructure Australia instead selected as priorities a $4.9 billion Melbourne metro train project, an Adelaide freight rail line and a Federal Highway road upgrade in the ACT.

State Labor figures said Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese did not want the M4 East because it would go through his electorate.

A spokesman for Mr Albanese said last night the federal government was already investing more than $1 billion in separating rail and freight lines in NSW and $300 million on the Moorebank Intermodal to take trucks off the M5.

A spokesman for Ms Keneally said of the lack of appearances involving Ms Gillard and Ms Keneally: “It’s only day eight of the campaign.”

It’s understood a joint Federal and State announcement is planned next week.