Mobile Black Spot Program

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): Supplementary question: given that flawed logic, why didn't New South Wales get some 480 phone towers? Why didn't Victoria get some 330 phone towers? Minister, your logic is flawed. How many towers do you realistically expect you are going to get for your $2 million?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:34): These questions that the Leader of the Opposition asks are for the federal Liberal government. They are the ones who decide how many each state gets. Obviously there is a fundamental misunderstanding by the Leader of the Opposition about how this works. We are putting in nearly six times the amount. We have stumped up $2 million for this program. The opposition has not announced what they will do at all—you would be forgiven for thinking they would do nothing: they have come up with nothing and they have announced nothing.