Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill 2010.  As noted by the member for Brand, when he introduced this bill on 30 September, this is the seventh Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill since 2004. These bills have continued the coalition’s work to promote transparent and accountable government finances for Australian government departments, agencies, Commonwealth authorities and companies which are predominately contained in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.

This bill, in particular, seeks to update the framework, improve operational efficiency and assist with the operation of interjurisdictional entities. Firstly, the bill repeals 20 redundant special appropriations, including six acts in their entirety. Secondly, the bill seeks to improve the governance framework, established by the FMA Act and the CAC Act, both of which govern the management and accountability of Commonwealth agencies, authorities and the executive arm of the government.

The bill will allow ministers to delegate certain functions under the CAC Act to departmental secretaries, relating to the oversight of Commonwealth authorities and Commonwealth companies. It also seeks to allow relevant state and territory ministers to request information about FMA Act agencies and Commonwealth authorities operating under the CAC Act.

Thirdly, the bill consolidates the Australian Institute of Criminology with the Criminology Research Council into a single agency, while also transferring them from the CAC Act to the FMA Act. It also seeks to transfer the governance of the Australian Law Reform Commission from the CAC Act to the FMA Act. Further, the National Transport Commission will be brought under the CAC Act as it currently sits outside existing frameworks, other than for its annual reporting.

The coalition broadly supports this amending legislation. However, I draw the attention of the House to page 5.2 of the Department of Finance and Deregulation’s red book, the incoming government brief, publicly released on 1 October, which stated:

Through this Bill—

the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment bill 2010—

there is also an opportunity for the Government to reconfirm its support for a strong financial framework dealing with Commonwealth resources by expanding the definition of ‘proper use’ to  include ‘economical’. While proper use already includes ‘efficient, effective and ethical’, inclusion of the word ‘economical’ will increase the focus on the level of resources the Commonwealth applies to achieve outcomes.

This was the department’s subtle way of acknowledging the government’s reckless waste and mismanagement across myriad programs over the past three years and the need for something to be done about it. Even though the language was somewhat tortuous, it was quite pointed for a department to advise its own government in such a significant way about the monumental waste and mismanagement of which we have seen endless examples, such as the $2.8 billion pink batts debacle. That program was rushed out and led to 207 house fires, 4,000 potential cases of fraud and, tragically, four deaths. It was one of the monumental policy failures in this country’s history.

We also saw the $850 million solar panel scheme blow-out. We saw the dumping of the $275 million Green Loans program. We saw $6 billion to $8 billion wasted in delivering the $16.2 billion school hall program, with state schools paying twice as much per square metre as Catholic schools for the same buildings—a disgrace to proper management in anyone’s language. We saw the embarrassing implementation of the Indigenous housing program. We saw the $1 billion blow-out in the Computers in Schools program. We saw the $1 billion blow-out due to the Labor government’s loss of control of our nation’s borders. We saw the gross waste and mismanagement of our $4 billion-a-year foreign aid budget. We saw $1.5 million spent to send 113 delegates to the Copenhagen conference. We saw the failed GroceryWatch website set up and shut down at a cost of $10 million. We saw the bungled Fuelwatch scheme and, of course, the $43 billion NBN, which we now know is $50 billion—from $4.7 billion originally. And now we see a project cost—

Mr Ripoll and Mr Husic interjecting—

If you do not know what a project cost is, go back to accounting 101. See what the cost is to the community: $50 billion. Some in the industry are saying it is $55 billion.

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