Liberal MP John Alexander, the former tennis professional, took a swing at his parliamentary colleagues this week as he approached the end of his own 11-year career in Canberra.
Mr Alexander said politicians had become "addicted" to using infrastructure spending to buy votes and that decisions on the most significant nation-building work should be taken out of their hands for the public good.
The Member for Bennelong chairs the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities, which handed down a report on government procurement on Thursday.
In an accompanying media statement, he referred to "the lack of long-term planning" resulting in a "piecemeal, ad hoc and reactive delivery process" when it comes to major infrastructure investment.
Mr Alexander, who is retiring, is clearly no fan of a pervading political culture which has normalised pork-barrelling, even in the face of several damning audits.
This week's budget delivered a new volley of vaguely defined funding streams, including the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan, a $7.1 billion bank of money to be spent over the next 11 years.
One wonders what Mr Alexander thought of the pre-budget announcement that the Commonwealth would spend $1 billion, to be matched by NSW, on duplicating 10 kilometres of train line between Wyong and Tuggerah to speed up travel between Newcastle and Sydney.
The railway projects falls within the federal seat of Dobell, which Labor holds with a thin 1.5 per cent margin.
The $2 billion may well turn out to be money well spent, but it was announced weeks before an election and in the absence of an agreed long-term plan for how to build fast or high-speed rail between the cities.
It is this kind of "ad hoc" project delivery which has frustrated Mr Alexander and, indeed, those advocating for intelligent investment in the Hunter.
As Committee for the Hunter boss Alice Thompson put it diplomatically in an opinion piece in Thursday's Newcastle Herald, the policy, economic and political planets have "neatly aligned" for the region this year, but voters and the nation as a whole can rightfully ask why the politics needs to align for important strategic investment to occur.
Likewise, the timing of the government's recent announcement that it is looking at Newcastle, Wollongong or Brisbane to host an east coast nuclear submarine base suggests even this vital national security decision carries political considerations.
NSW Parliament passed legislation this week which brings the Lower Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra within the remit of the Greater Cities Commission, a government entity which provides strategic oversight and coordination across departments.
It can only be hoped that it helps usher in an era of long-range planning so taxpayers' money is spent for their benefit.
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