Election 2022: Josh Frydenberg and Jim Chalmers grilled over $300k dog park

Both major political parties have been questioned over whether its a good use of taxpayer money to fund dog parks as part of their promises.

Both major political parties have been questioned over whether it’s a good use of taxpayer money to fund dog parks as part of their election promises.

The Coalition has promised $320k for a new dog park in the Liberal-held seat of LaTrobe, while Labor set aside $200k to upgrade two dog parks in its own seat of Macquarie.

Both of the seats are considered marginal, raising questions the spending could be an election strategy.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers went head-to-head in a debate at the National Press Club on Wednesday, where they were asked to defend paying for costly dog walking areas in times of record debt.

“There is a time for investment in communities, but you need to make sure that spending is not politically motivated,” Mr Chalmers said

A Treasurers debate has turned to the issue of both parties promising expensive dog parks. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Mr Chalmers referenced highly-publicised accusations against Liberal party ministers of favouring friendly electorates for grants, such as the 2020 sports rort affair.

“We have seen people in ministerial offices pouring over colour-coded spreadsheets, allocating money purely for political purposes,” he said.

“There is a problem in the budget with spending in politically motivated ways.”

Mr Frydenberg said the Labor Party had itself been accused of providing small grants to “a range of targeted seats”.

“Of course the Labor Party is always holier than thou,” he said.

“With respect to local community programs - they’ll always exist...but our focus in the lead up to election day has been making big announcements.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was accused of lying about Labor planning to increase taxes.

The pair were also asked what they feared the other would do if elected, after failing to outline any new policies to cut spending throughout the debate.

“The biggest risk here in this election, is three more years of the same,” Mr Chalmers said.

“Now, only a Liberal Government, a Liberal Treasurer, a Liberal Prime Minister this out-of-touch would see the inflation numbers, the real wage numbers, rising interest rates, all the rest of it, and think what Australians really need is more of the same.”

But Mr Frydenberg said he believed the Labor Party couldn’t be trusted on spending.

“What he’s saying to you today is not what you can believe,” he said.

“My greatest fear is that if Labor got over the line, they would revert to their natural instincts to tax more and to spend more.”

Mr Chalmers accused Mr Frydenberg of “lying” after he claimed Labor would “always tax more”.

Amid forecasts that households will face higher electricity bills in months due to soaring wholesale energy prices, Mr Frydenberg and Mr Chalmers were asked to outline their plans to keep prices from going up.

The price of black coal has reached near-record levels.

“So commodity prices have gone up and coal is one of these and that’s largely out of what has been happening in Ukraine,” Mr Frydenberg said.

He said it was crucial to get the “transition right” while moving toward net zero emissions.

“One thing you’ve got to get right is that transition to more intermittent sources of energy,” he said.

He pointed to the closure of Hazelwood in 2017 which led to an 80 per cent spike in Victoria’s wholesale prices.

Both leaders were asked about how they would stop retail bills rising when wholesale prices had soared.

“So our focus is about a proper transition, ensuring dispatchable power like gas, bringing in more renewables into the system, having back-up storage like pumped hydro and Snowy 2.0, all of which hopefully will smooth that transition because inevitably we’re moving to a smaller carbon footprint,” he said.

Mr Chalmers said it was a long-term issue and needed long-term policy that shouldn’t be based on immediate spikes in prices.

“We all recognise at least the major parties recognise, that there will be a mix of energy sources and that mix will change over time,” he said.

But he said things weren’t moving fast enough.

“One of the reasons why we need a Labor Government and a key part of a better future for this country is to finally get on with the job of grabbing this incredible opportunity that we have,” he said.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that it was time for change.

“Probably the most important opportunity that we have as a country and as an economy is to grab this thing, because if we get that cleaner and cheaper energy, we will unlock tens of billions of dollars in investment.

“We will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and we’ll make energy cheaper, all the way from pensioners to working families to businesses as well.

“If we miss this opportunity, we should hang our heads in shame, but that’s what’s been happening.”