Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Before I start my contribution, I commend the previous member on bringing that adjournment speech on endometriosis to the House. It was an excellent contribution, and it's incredibly important work that has been done.

What a bargain that was! Eventually it will be hailed as a good decision. That was how the Deputy Prime Minister responded to an Australian National Audit Office report which found that his department spent $30 million on land worth $3 million. The price paid per hectare by the Morrison government was 22 times higher than the price paid by the New South Wales government for its portion of the same Leppington Triangle. According to the records of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, the Morrison government had undertaken nine valuations of the land and the purchase price was four times higher than the highest of these valuations. On the date of the purchase—the date of purchase!—the agricultural land was leased back to the seller, Leppington Pastoral Company, for 10 years with an option to renew for a further decade. That land won't be needed for decades to come. What a bargain that was!

When the Deputy Prime Minister's departmental secretary was today asked whether there was anything in the ANAO report or in any of his investigations into this land purchase to suggest that it was a bargain for Australian taxpayers, all he could say, 'Not that I am aware of.' When asked about it, the Prime Minister brushed off concerns about this purchase as 'merely process issues'. Since the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister made those statements we have found out that there are multiple internal investigations underway and that the Australian Federal Police are investigating potential criminal behaviour. This is an absolute scandal that goes to the heart of this government's Infrastructure Investment Program, but those opposite refuse to take it seriously. If this can happen on one of the government's flagship projects, the Western Sydney Airport, what is happening on the countless smaller projects scattered across the country, let alone other projects related to Western Sydney Airport and massive projects like Inland Rail?

Today at estimates we learnt that the department of infrastructure had budgeted in the order of $30 million for the purchase of the Leppington Triangle, even before any of the dodgy valuations we saw and the acquisition process. They had budgeted $30 million in advance. Who made that decision? The acquisition of land should always be based on fair value, not on predetermined outcomes, which is what we have seen on this occasion. At the same hearing today it was revealed that the Deputy Prime Minister has known of the AFP investigation since 9 October, a fact which was only publicly revealed on Friday afternoon after diligent journalists made some inquiries. Even after these revelations, the Morrison government has shown no interest in getting to the bottom of what has gone on here and seemingly has no interest in ensuring things like this cannot happen again.

According to the Australian National Audit Office, the department of infrastructure fell short of ethical standards, with public servants meeting landowners in coffee shops and failing to ensure proper probity measures were put in place. For the Deputy Prime Minister to tick off these processes as being a bargain is simply extraordinary and calls into serious question his judgement when it comes to billions of dollars of infrastructure spending across his portfolio. While the Deputy Prime Minister ticked off the deal, Minister Fletcher, who was then the minister responsible, admitted that he obviously was not up to the job at the time. The ANAO audit report stated that formal briefings omitted relevant information, but it seems unbelievable that Minister Fletcher would fail to ask basic questions about how much the land was going to cost and whether it was value for taxpayers' money. He's admitted incompetence. That's basically what he's admitted. Either the minister didn't read his brief or didn't understand his brief or he didn't care. At best, as I said, this is ministerial incompetence; at worst, I guess we're going to find out.

The only way the Prime Minister can rebuild trust in his government to step up and actually make sure there is probity and transparency around these issues is with a national integrity commission and to restore funding that this government has cut to the Australian National Audit Office to make sure that these dodgy deals can never happen again, but of course, given this government's track record, I won't hold my breath. (Time expired)

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