Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I move Australian Democrats amendment (3) on sheet 5353:

(3)    Page 30 (after line 30), after clause 41, insert:

41A  Keeping the Parliament informed of grant recommendations

            The Minister must cause a copy of a recommendation from the Advisory Board that relates to:

             (a)    a grant of financial assistance to an eligible higher education institution in relation to capital expenditure; or

             (b)    a grant of financial assistance to an eligible higher education institution in relation to research facilities;

            to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of the Minster’s receipt of the recommendation.

This amendment works with the bill as it is currently read to simply call for the minister for education to table the advisory board’s recommendations relating to which applications should receive grants. I am moving this separately because I think it is possibly the most effective single step we can take to improve the level of transparency inherent in the implementation of the fund. In this case the amendment works with clause 41 as printed, adding a new clause 41A to stipulate that any recommendations from the advisory board relating to grants to higher education institutions be tabled in the parliament within 15 days. While it is possible that this amendment could be seen as including all advisory board recommendations to the minister, I would like to stress that I am specifically interested in the advisory board recommendations as to which applications should receive grant funding and not recommendations relating to broader policy or program implementation issues.