Shadow Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, Chris Hartcher today ridiculed Treasurer Eric Roozendaal’s ‘weak as water’ attack in Legislative Council Question Time.

The Treasurer tried to launch an attack against Mr Hartcher’s claim the new Local Infrastructure Fund is a total sham. But the attack failed; Roozendaal was forced to ask for extra time to explain his policy but then failed to offer any further explanation for the farcical ‘infrastructure’ fund.

“It was a bit embarrassing for the Treasurer really,” Mr Hartcher said.

“He started badly and it went down hill from there. By calling me a ‘liar’ in Parliament, Mr Roozendaal was forced to stop his speech to deal with interjections from the Opposition and the President. When he finally got going again he had run out of time,” he said.

“He asked for extra time and received it but then failed to explain exactly why he thought my original criticism of the infrastructure fund wasn’t accurate.

“The Rees Government’s fund is basically money borrowed from the Government, by the Government to lend to Councils. But there’s no line-item in the Budget papers, just some vague mention of a loan facility.

“The Rees Government doesn’t have the money sitting in reserve – remember we’re talking about big dollars; $200 million according to the Government – so they will need to find it somewhere.

“The only obvious source of funding for infrastructure delivery is the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Section 94 funds and developer contributions taken out of the growth centres.

“Eric Roozendaal hasn’t offered any explanation to the contrary. We’ll accept the premise of his plan if or when he can show us the details. But he has been unwilling or unable to do so.

“Eric Roozendaal has failed to explain exactly where he plans to get the money for his ‘Claytons’ infrastructure fund.

“If he can’t explain himself, Councils and the public have the right to assume that, like most other Government programs, this fund is just another Rees Government smokescreen,” Mr Hartcher said.