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

s CATHERINE KING (—) (): I thank the member for his contribution. I would say a couple of things. In terms of the transparency measures, there are processes now through both annual reports and corporate plans that provide the opportunity for that to occur. Again, in terms of the board, I would say very clearly: of course I would like someone with the right skills to be on there. If they happen to be a regional Australian, I think that would be a really good thing, and we'll certainly actively look to do that. But it has to be a skills based board. It is such a complex project, and I can't have a quota system, which is basically what the Nationals are proposing in relation to that. It's not something they support in any other area, which I'm amused by.

I think it's, again, important that this is not about just capital cities. In fact, the very reason that we've talked about the Central Coast and Newcastle and the importance of Sydney is that it is also about the capacity for people to go both ways. I also acknowledge that the entire project of high-speed rail is actually about opening up that east coast, providing enormous opportunities for settlement strategy right the way along—new cities, growing the cities that we've got, providing that opportunity for regional people to be able to live and work properly within regional Australia and have the dedicated services to be able to do that. Again, I thank the opposition for their contribution but respectfully say: we won't be supporting the amendments that have been moved.

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