Mr LLOYD (Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads) (3:21 PM) —What we have seen here in the past few days is a failed, orchestrated campaign against a very worthwhile program. The Regional Partnerships program has delivered more than 500 projects, to the value of $113 million, throughout Australia, particularly to rural and regional areas. What we have heard over the last 20 minutes highlights the Leader of the Opposition's complete lack of understanding of the needs of rural and regional Australia and the needs of the Central Coast.

Mr Speaker, if you had listened to the speech by the Leader of the Opposition, you would have thought that the Labor Party did not support the dredging of Tumbi Creek. But nothing could be further from the truth. I tabled in this House yesterday an ALP election brochure from the Labor candidate for Dobell, David Mehan. In it there is a lovely photo of David Mehan and the former leader of the Labor Party, Mark Latham. The brochure is headed `Labor to fund the dredging of Tumbi Creek'. It states:

It does not say which program that would come from or how it has been costed—no. Those opposite just waltz around the country and say, `Oh, we will throw $1.3 million into the dredging of Tumbi Creek.' The quote continues:

The Leader of the Opposition spent 20 minutes today highlighting the fact that he felt that this was not an important project; that the environment of the Central Coast was not important—he thought the dredging of Tumbi Creek involved just allowing a few boats to go in and out. This debate over the last few days has highlighted the Central Coast. I am sure that the residents of Tumbi Creek never thought that they would have such a high profile and certainly the tourist association of the Central Coast would be pleased with the publicity that the Leader of the Opposition has provided for the Central Coast.

It is appropriate that I go through some of the timing of the application and the announcement. It should be recalled that, through the strong advocacy of the member for Dobell, he had already secured an earlier commitment of $340,000 in flood mitigation assistance from the Australian government. Indeed, the Wyong Shire Council had written to the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources on 12 December 2003 advising that the member for Dobell had secured federal government assistance and asking the New South Wales government, as the responsible authority for the Tuggerah Lakes, if it would be agreeable to provide funding equally with the federal government and the council. I also point out that on 15 December 2003 the member for Dobell wrote to the state Labor member for The Entrance, who was also a minister in the New South Wales government, asking that he work with the member for Dobell to secure the matching funding. The program at Tumbi Creek was an important program. The member for Dobell worked tirelessly to ensure that the funding was secured.

Today the arguments have been based on misinformation in newspaper articles—having got the facts wrong. Earlier today I tabled some documents. I would like to read into the Hansard a letter that I received today from the Mayor of Wyong Shire Council, Brenton Pavier. It is addressed to me and says:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr LLOYD —Mr Deputy Speaker, members opposite think that this is a joke. They know there has been a failed attempt to censure the minister and to embarrass the government. All it has done is served the opportunity to highlight how much the government supports regional and rural Australia and how important the Regional Partnerships program is to the rest of Australia. The Regional Partnerships program deals with real issues. It provides real benefits for real Australians throughout rural and regional Australia. It is an important program. It is one that even the member for Capricornia supported. She welcomed the $2.2 million that came out of Regional Partnerships. The member for Lingiari did not complain when his electorate got a very sizeable grant for the new telephone system on Christmas Island. It seems that the Labor Party are very hypocritical when it comes to Regional Partnerships. They want to complain about any Regional Partnerships money that might go into electorates that are held by the coalition but they are quite happy to accept money that goes into Labor electorates.

I will go back to the letter from Brenton Pavier, the Mayor of Wyong Shire Council. The second paragraph says:

Honourable members interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. I.R. Causley)—If members on my left persist in talking they will be removed from the chamber.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —Member for Grayndler, show some respect to the chair or you will go!

Mr LLOYD —It continues:

This is the tragedy of this attack by the Labor Party. On the basis of one email, they have sought to launch an attack and to make serious accusations about a conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth; a conspiracy between my department, my office, and Wyong council. In the process, they have trashed the reputation of some hardworking people, particularly the officers of Wyong Shire Council. And we never hear an apology from the Labor Party when they bring these issues into the House without the correct information, when they get the information wrong.

Mr Beazley interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition has had his 20 minutes.

Mr LLOYD —The whole purpose of this attack has failed. They have not produced one skerrick of evidence of the so-called conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth.

Ms Gillard —What about the email?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The member for Lalor is the Manager of Opposition Business!

Mr LLOYD —In the process they have highlighted the Labor Party's complete lack of understanding of the needs of the broader community in Australia. They wonder why at each election they keep losing seats. I can tell you that the way this issue has run on the Central Coast is that the Central Coast is angry with the Labor Party. The Central Coast is very angry with the Labor Party because they show no understanding about the environmental concerns of the New South Wales Central Coast. We have one of the most beautiful areas anywhere in Australia. The environment, to us, is very important. We have many challenges as our population rapidly grows, and I know that the member for Dobell makes no apologies. He is a strong advocate for the work that he has done in securing not only this funding for Tumbi Creek but many other grants in his time.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The member for Denison is warned!

Government member—He is the best member for Dobell ever.

Mr LLOYD —Absolutely. He is most certainly the best member for Dobell ever. He is a hardworking member, and that is why he was returned at the last election. As we go through all these issues, we listen to the Leader of the Opposition waffle on about how Tumbi Creek should not be funded.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The member for Grayndler seems to not take in warnings.

Mr LLOYD —He keeps going on about the fact that Tumbi Creek does not need dredging after, in an act of God, the rains came and the silt was washed away. I just read into the Hansard a copy of a letter which made it very clear that there is still a vast amount of work to be done, work that will ensure that 18 homes will not be flooded. I am not sure if many of the members opposite have ever had communities in their own electorates flooded or seen the devastation when floodwaters go through a house. Anything we can do to ensure that those 18 homes are not flooded and that those residents are not subjected to the horrific trauma of floodwaters going through their homes is money well spent. I also want to remind the House and the Leader of the Opposition that—

Mr Albanese —Where was that in the application?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The member for Grayndler will remove himself from the House under standing order 94.

Mr LLOYD —with regard to this particular grant, at this stage no money has been paid. No contracts have yet been signed and there simply is no conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —The member for Denison will remove himself from the chamber under standing order 94.

Mr LLOYD —The advice that was provided by the department to Wyong council made it very clear that the money that was approved under this grant application had to be spent on the dredging of Tumbi Creek—that is, on the project for which it was granted. Those are the requirements. If there is any surplus money—if the money is not fully expended—then of course the money will be returned to the Commonwealth. The reason that the departmental advice was forwarded to Wyong council was that there were comments in the media by some councillors that, if all the money was now not needed to dredge Tumbi Creek, they felt they could redirect some of this money to other worthwhile projects in the shire. But we made it very clear to Wyong council that that was not the case and that any money that was surplus—money that was not expended on this particular project—would be returned to the Commonwealth.

This has been a completely failed attempt by the new, recycled Leader of the Opposition to embarrass the government. Labor have nothing to run on. They have no policies, they are not developing policies, they have no direction and, most importantly, they have no understanding of the needs of the Australian community. They are out of touch with the needs of the average Australian community. That is why they keep losing seats and, election after election, they keep going down. They are wasting their time on trying to embarrass the government and, at the same time, all they are doing is embarrassing themselves. All they have done in the last few days is highlight for the Australian community that the Labor Party do not support the Regional Partnerships program. They do not support the money that is going into the communities. This is real money that is going on real projects in communities throughout Australia, providing real benefits to many communities. Many of these communities do not have access to large resources, and this program is important. There are so many areas where the Labor Party do not seem to understand how important this money is to those communities. This has been a completely failed attempt to embarrass me as minister and to embarrass the government. All that has happened is that the Labor Party and the new, recycled Leader of the Opposition have embarrassed themselves.