MORRISON AND MCCORMACK DEFEND NUCLEAR RORTING OF URBAN CONGESTION FUND

Scott Morrison’s performance today in Question Time showed that he is shamelessly proud of his nuclear-level rorting of the Urban Congestion Fund.

In response to questions on pork-barrelling in the Liberal seat of Boothby, Higgins, Deakin and La Trobe, Scott Morrison proved that there isn’t a taxpayer-funded program he won’t use for his own political purposes.

Instead of explaining the merit of a single project in these electorates, he boasted of the success of his pork-barrelling.

His Deputy was just as arrogant but also factually incorrect.

In trying to defend why 94 per cent of the Central Coast package went to the Liberal seat of Robertson, Michael McCormack claimed that all projects from the Urban Congestion Fund were election commitments.

This is factually incorrect – the Urban Congestion Fund was established in the 2018 Budget, a year before the election. The Government then topped up the Fund in the 2019 Budget.

Of course, in the first year of the Fund’s existence the Morrison Government did not bother to release any guidelines, did not bother to open expressions of interest, and did not even spend a cent to ‘bust congestion’.

What’s clear from the performance of the Prime Minister and his Deputy today in Question Time was that the Urban Congestion Fund has been used as nothing but a Liberal Party slush fund.

Across the country, Scott Morrison and Michael McCormack poured over 83 per cent of the $3 billion allocated from the Urban Congestion Fund in to Liberal seats and seats targeted by the Liberal Party.

Scott Morrison then used a further $17 million of government resources on pre-election advertisements to tell us how good it was.

That’s why 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 and Michael McCormack’s rorts just leave families and tradies stuck in the slow lane.