HON CATHERINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER FOR BALLARAT
ANDREW GILES MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIES AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE
MEMBER FOR SCULLIN
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS - MORRISON’S $3 BILLION URBAN CONGESTION RORT
Scott Morrison has taken his rorts to the streets, pouring over 83 percent of the $3 billion allocated from the Urban Congestion Fund in to Liberal seats and seats targeted by the Liberal Party.
In the lead up to the election, Morrison funnelled 144 of 160 projects into Liberal and targeted seats - more than $2.5 billion worth.
Scott Morrison made promises in every single urban Liberal seat that was marginal or under threat.
More than one quarter of the $3 billion was funnelled to just four Liberal seats – Higgins, Deakin, La Trobe and Boothby.
The ‘urban’ commitments even extended to the regional seats of Corangamite, Robertson, Fisher and Bass, all either held or targeted by the Liberal Party.
Meanwhile, 23 urban Labor seats and 13 regional city Labor seats missed out completely.
On so many occasions, the relevant state government or local council didn’t even know the commitment was being made.
Of course, that didn’t matter for Scott Morrison. Rorting billions of taxpayer funds was a marketing strategy not an infrastructure plan to actually get families home safer or to get tradies to their next job quicker.
That’s why he used a further $17 million of government resources on pre-election advertisements to tell us how good it was.
Does Scott Morrison really think traffic congestion stops when cars move onto streets in Labor seats? Does he take Australians for mugs?
We know there isn’t a taxpayer funded program that Scott Morrison won’t use for his own political purposes.
Labor has written to the Auditor-General requesting an audit into the design, management and politicisation of the Urban Congestion Fund.
While road congestion in our major cities is set to double over the next decade, Scott Morrison’s rorts will leave families and tradies stuck in the slow lane.