Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (5) as circulated in the name of the member for Maranoa together:

(1) Clause 8, page 6 (line 22), after "relevant parties", insert "(including extensive consultation with local communities)".

(2) Clause 8, page 7 (after line 17), after subclause (1), insert:

(1A) In performing the functions mentioned in paragraph (1)(a), the Authority must:

(a) arrange for the Productivity Commission and Infrastructure Australia to:

(i) undertake economic assessments and cost benefit analyses; and

(ii) give the Authority a written report of each assessment and analysis; and

(b) publish a copy of each of those reports on the Authority's website within 14 days after the report is given to the Authority.

(3) Clause 16, page 11 (after line 15), at the end of the clause, add:

(5) The Minister must ensure that at least one Board member is a person who is from rural or regional Australia.

(4) Clause 47, page 24 (line 5), after "plan,", insert "the requirement to give progress reports,".

(5) Page 24 (after line 15), after clause 48, insert:

48A Progress reports

(1) After the end of each progress report period, the Board must prepare a report on the performance of the Authority's functions, including the progress of:

(a) the policy development and planning mentioned in paragraph 8(1)(a); and

(b) the construction or extension of a railway mentioned in paragraph 8(1)(b) or (c).

(2) The Board must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the end of the progress report period.

(3) For the purposes of this section, progress report period means:

(a) the period of 6 months starting on the day this section commences; and

(b) each subsequent 6-month period.

Note: This section applies in addition to section 39 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (which deals with annual performance statements for Commonwealth entities).

I reserve my right to speak.

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

I'll just go through the amendments that are being considered and moved as a whole, and I thank the opposition for doing it that way. We won't be supporting the amendments moved by the opposition.

The first amendment goes to putting in that the authority will consult, liaise and negotiate with states and territories and other relevant parties. It is inherent that that is actually what the authority does and needs to do. It's inherent that the community will be a core part of the work of the High Speed Rail Authority. Frankly, this is in contrast to the way in which Inland Rail was done. I think there have been some pretty strong lessons learned about how you might actually engage with communities through that process.

In relation to amendment (2), Infrastructure Australia already evaluates business cases for transport infrastructure projects with an Australian government funding contribution of $250 million or over. In addition, business case evaluation reports are publicly released by Infrastructure Australia.

In relation to amendment (3), again we won't be supporting that. This is the amendment in which the opposition seeks to have at least one board member being from regional Australia. I'm not opposed to regional Australians being on boards at all, but this is an important principle here. This is a skills based board. This is billions of dollars, potentially, of taxpayer money. This is a complex engineering project as well. It is actually really important that we get the right people on the board and that we don't say that we're going to have a quota of regional people. Of course, I would love to be able to have someone who has the skills, experience and expertise. If they happen to live in regional Australia, that is absolutely a bonus, and I can certainly undertake that we will look and seek a person there. But it is actually really important that we have a skills based board. I'm often somewhat amused when we're lectured a bit over on this side. We have an affirmative action policy, and we've heard the Nats are very much opposed to that. I'm not sure having an affirmative policy or a quota for regions really is consistent with that principle when it comes to women, particularly.

Amendment (4) requires the authority to give progress reports. Information on the progress of the High Speed Rail Authority would be publicly available via its annual report and corporate plan. That is what happens with Inland Rail and with all of the other authorities that are under the portfolio already, so we don't think that's necessary. Similarly, with the final amendment that's being proposed by those opposite, again information on the progress of the High Speed Rail Authority will be publicly available via its annual report and its corporate plan. I thank people for their contributions on this bill. Who knew so many people loved trains? It's terrific to actually see people so dedicated to wanting to talk about the vision that this government has for the country to really start the process to bring high-speed rail to reality.

This is a complex, long-term project. We understand that; we're not trying to pretend otherwise. That's why the important work on fast rail and on faster rail and on building those important public transport networks continues. But, if you've got a vision for the nation, you've got a start. You hear that old adage that every journey starts with the first footstep, and this is really what this is about, but if you don't take that first step you never get to the end destination. This is really what this is about: establishing the authority, relooking at the business case, looking at the financing mechanisms, looking at the settlement policy around the areas where we want to start with high-speed rail and putting the money into the budget—which is in addition to the establishment costs of the authority, just so the member for Braddon is aware of that—so that we can make sure we've got the money available to actually get the work underway for corridor acquisition, the planning work that needs to be done and the work with the New South Wales government, in the first instance. In particular, we're looking at how we can bring better alignment with the investment of $1 billion, which is already sitting within the budget and has been maintained in the budget, to make sure that we get whatever we do in terms of faster rail in this corridor in alignment with the potential for high-speed rail well into the future.

Again, I thank everyone and say that we won't be supporting these amendments.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the amendments moved by the member for Maranoa. I'm a firm believer in high-speed rail and its transformational impact on rural and regional Australia, particularly the potential for my region of Nicholls. We often talk about the need for high-speed rail, and we say it's a connector between capital cities in different states. But I think it's important to understand there's also the opportunity to use high-speed rail to connect regional cities and capital cities within states. Such a proposal already exists, developed by the Rail Futures Institute, and I commend their report about making Victoria a state of cities, not a city-state, to anyone who's interested in the topic.

If we don't want Australia to be a nation of megacities, we need to face up to the challenge of growing our regional cities. High-speed rail can drive not only shifts in population but access to work, education and health care. In the case of Victoria, there is an opportunity to leverage a properly built airport rail link not only to connect passengers to planes but also to be a conduit for electrified high-speed trains from regional centres in the north into Melbourne. Instead, I believe we're squandering billions on the Victorian government's suburban rail loop, a thought bubble project that the Victorian Auditor-General concluded has not been properly assessed.

It makes sense that the High Speed Rail Authority have at least one voice from regional Australia. You can't build a rail line between capital cities without running the track through regional areas, but we should aspire to do much more than that. We need high-speed rail to be a driver for regional populations and economies. It is important that those regional and rural Australians who will be impacted and who can also benefit enormously have a voice. The transparency and accountability measures proposed by the Leader of the Nationals are equally sensible. Economic assessments and cost-benefit analysis undertaken by the Productivity Commission and Infrastructure Australia will better inform all Australians.

High-speed rail has been talked about for a long time. It can be transformational, but it will also be expensive. We need to understand whether the cost-benefit equation stacks up. As such, I support the amendments moved by the Leader of the Nationals.

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

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendments be disagreed to.

Question agreed to.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Bill agreed to.