Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As I turn to the current bill under debate, if this bill passes then one of Infrastructure Australia's functions will be to identify nationally significant infrastructure needs and identify any gaps. Its priority lists would focus on nationally significant infrastructure investment proposals. With the amount of infrastructure expenditure at issue here for the role the government sees Infrastructure Australia playing, it is critical that the people tasked with executing that role and overseeing that expenditure are appointed during an independent recruitment process.

Three commissioners are going to replace the Infrastructure Australia board if this bill becomes law. Those commissioners are going to be responsible for ensuring the performance of Infrastructure Australia's functions. Australians are entitled to transparency and independence in appointments to those positions, which my amendments to this bill would ensure. I'm trying to ensure that there is not a jobs-for-mates culture in the new Infrastructure Australia. We know it was a jobs-for-mates culture which caused the Attorney-General to abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last year.

We need greater trust in our institutions. When it comes down to it, we need to be able to trust the independence of those really important Commonwealth public appointments. The Infrastructure Australia commissioners will be making major nation-building decisions worth billions of dollars. Australians need to be able to trust that they are making decisions in the best interests of Australians, and these amendments will ensure that process is done independently, and we move away from the pork-barrelling and politically motivated decisions of the past. Thank you.

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