Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Auditor-General Amendment Bill 2011 and to support the amendments that were discussed earlier by the member for Mackellar. But I also want to take this opportunity to once again call on the member for Lyne in his capacity as the Chair of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, the author of this bill and a regional member with considerable influence over this faltering government to show his support for an ANAO investigation into the Aust­ralian Rail Track Corporation's involvement in the rail track replacement work between Melbourne and Albury.

This bill effectively seeks to provide greater power to the Auditor-General to conduct audits into government agencies, government business enterprises and govern­ment controlled companies. If the member for Lyne really believes in scrutiny of government, if he believes that the Auditor-General should have the discretion to conduct investigations of GBEs like the ARTC, he will support my call for a full and frank audit of the Melbourne to Albury rail project, a project that will be yet another addition to Labor's long list of failures. If he believes that country Australians deserve access to a safe and reliable public transport system then he will support my call.

The member for Lyne has a large degree of influence over this government, as we have seen and as I am sure he would like to admit, particularly to his constituents. I would suggest that this is the perfect opportunity to put that influence to good use for the sake of services to a significant rural and regional community. The minister responsible for this project, the member for Grayndler, promised full transparency when he came to office, yet we know that the ARTC has already conducted an investi­gation into the state of the rail track between Melbourne and Albury and that the results of this investigation have not seen the light of day and have in fact been hidden—another failed project and another broken promise.

There are elements of this bill which I do support and believe should be commended. Giving the ANAO more power and auton­omy to conduct investigations into govern­ment business enterprises such as the ARTC is of course something that I fully support. But I would urge the member for Lyne, regardless of the outcome on this bill, to use his influence on this committee to push for an audit into the ARTC. I would also urge members opposite who believe in government transparency to agree to this audit.

There are other aspects of this bill which the coalition does not support. This bill would extend somewhat intrusive powers to the ANAO which would subject independent contractors to audits if they received government contracts. This would effectively apply another layer of bureaucracy and increased costs and regulatory burden to private industry. It would be a significant disincentive for small businesses to tender for government contracts and I believe would be an unintended negative conse­quence of this bill. I say 'unintended' because I do not think the intention is to further harm small businesses who are already suffering under significant regulation and increased costs, with some barely making a profit at all. The amendments moved by the coalition would remove these intrusive powers that would hurt small contractors, while extend­ing those extra powers to investigate government agencies, government-controlled companies and government business enterprises. I look forward to support for these amendments and I especially look forward to the member for Lyne's support for my call for an audit into the ARTC's involvement in the Melbourne to Albury rail freight.

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