Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the amendments moved by the member for Grayndler and, in particular, to speak to some extent with respect to those designed to strengthen governance around project selection by elevating the role of Infrastructure Australia in advising on project benefits. The amendments make the logical link between Infrastructure Australia's role to provide advice on infrastructure and national priorities and the minister's role to decide how to allocate scarce Commonwealth funds. For the projects that are funded, the minister will be required to publish details of the project and include Infrastructure Australia's evaluation and cost-benefit outcome. The requirement to publish delivers transparency to the sector and the community at large around the merits of allocating taxpayer funds to projects.

Overall, the strengthened governance is precisely what all major stakeholders in the infrastructure sector have called for in the current Productivity Commission inquiry into public infrastructure and in the recent Infrastructure Australia Senate inquiry, including the BCA, Infrastructure Partnerships and the Infrastructure Coordinator himself. But it is not only from those expert sources that we see a call for increased transparency and better governance. I have in my possession a copy of the coalition's policy from the last election to deliver the infrastructure for the 21st century. It has a photo on the front of a series of smiling faces, in which the minister is included.

Mr Keenan interjecting—

You did not make it, Member for Stirling. Maybe next time. It makes a number of key points which relate to this very area and the whole point of the amendments the member for Grayndler has moved. I quote from it:

But we will do much more than just deliver infrastructure. We will ensure better infrastructure planning, more rigorous and transparent assessments of taxpayer-funded projects, and develop a much firmer and clearer infrastructure plan for Australia’s future.

I go on, as, no doubt, did the coalition:

The Coalition will strengthen the role of Infrastructure Australia, to create a more transparent, accountable and effective adviser on infrastructure projects and policies.

And again, in a dot point:

Require all Commonwealth infrastructure expenditure exceeding $100 million to be subject to analysis by Infrastructure Australia to test cost-effectiveness and financial viability.

And again:

Regularly publish cost-benefit analyses for all projects being considered for Commonwealth support or investment.

As you can see, the purpose and intent of this amendment is about codifying what the coalition was saying that they were supposed to be all about in their policy. So what we are trying to do here is assist the government in ensuring that they meet their election commitments; to create a situation where what they said they would do will actually be enshrined in legislation to ensure that is in fact what happens.

Frankly, Mr Deputy Speaker, we—probably me more than you—are concerned that this government needs to be understood as to what it really intends to do and needs to be held to account. When it uses terms like transparency and accountability, we want to ensure that that is there for all to see and is not something that can be changed at the whims of a new minister down the track or altered just because they feel like it after the next Commission of Audit, or the next budget, or the next review or the next change of Prime Minister. What we want is a situation where these sorts of conditions are not only clearly understood, but also enshrined in legislation to ensure that those who follow will indeed act according to these high ideals.

I would urge the government to reconsider their position. I would urge the minister to perhaps revisit the document that he had his picture on the front of, look to the points in that document that were stated quite clearly, and see and understand that the amendments that are being proposed here today will ensure that he keeps the very promise that he made in this document—not only now but in the future, as part of what will be a sensible regime for the future management of infrastructure projects within this country.

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