Today in Question Time in the House of Representatives, I asked the Prime Minister:
Why did the Government spend nearly $17 million on taxpayer funded ‘congestion busting’ advertising in the lead up to this year’s election but did not spend a cent from the Urban Congestion Fund the whole of last financial year?
Scott Morrison refused to even try to answer the question and flicked it to the Minister for Roundabouts to attempt to respond to.
Alan Tudge completely failed to address the substance of the question.
Minister Tudge then conceded that the earliest construction would start on Urban Congestion Fund projects would be early next year – a delay on his previous commitment that work would start by Christmas.
It was confirmed in Senate Estimate today that the Morrison Government spent $17 million on the Building our Future campaign which included advertising across TV, Radio, Print, Cinema and Digital in all metropolitan, regional and rural markets in every state and territory in the lead up to the election.
The Urban Congestion Fund did not fund a road, bridge, tunnel, car park, roundabout, set of traffic lights, footpath or bike lane in any city or region of any state or territory in all of 2018‑19.
Scott Morrison’s infrastructure program is a political document, not an economic plan.
It is time the Morrison Government got to work on a real plan for infrastructure to create jobs, improve productivity and bust congestion.