Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has defended the government’s car park scheme on productivity grounds even as the Auditor-General found some projects would not add extra car spaces.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and then-urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge used the program to promise 47 car parks and upgrades near train stations. The car parks overwhelming favoured Coalition-held seats,especially across suburban Melbourne.
Senator Birmingham said local MPs were entitled to advocate on behalf of their electorates and in the case of the car park program that is what they had done.
“That’s what electorates expect,that’s what they vote on and governments are expected to listen and work to some of those advocacy points where need is genuine and where it is well argued and that is precisely what governments will continue to do so,” he told ABC television on Sunday.
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“The Australian people had their chance and voted the Morrison government back in the next election and we are determined to get on with local infrastructure,as we are nation-building infrastructure.
“We are going to continue to deliver infrastructure projects for the nation because they lift our national productivity,they help Australians in terms of whether it be their access to public transport,the time it takes them to get home.”