Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I will be talking to opposition amendments (8), (9) and (12) together, and I thought that Senator Cameron might want to seek leave to deal with them together. It is up to him.

The CHAIRMAN: No, that cannot occur.

Okay. These amendments only add red tape with no additional benefit. This is an unnecessary additional process which will mean the states would have no confidence that the Commonwealth would make payments in accordance with already signed national partnership agreements. The government is confident that the current bill has robust accountability and governance arrangements. The coalition has already committed to Infrastructure Australia undertaking an assessment of cost-benefit analyses for our major investment decisions that receive Commonwealth funding of over $100 million. This includes the government's budget commitments. State governments will undertake their own cost-benefit assessments as part of decision-making processes to privatise assets and reinvest in new infrastructure. These are rightly matters for the states. It makes no sense to duplicate cost-benefit processes at a federal level. The proposal to use disallowance mechanisms against payments to the states would block or delay funding from the Asset Recycling Fund for critical infrastructure. This would dilute the incentives of the asset recycling initiative and set a precedent which would have serious impacts on Commonwealth-state relations. The Commonwealth government will assess whether asset sales and infrastructure projects are eligible for incentive payments based on the criteria in the national partnership agreement. These criteria were agreed by all state premiers and include that a clear net positive benefit can be demonstrated and that projects will enhance long-term productive capacity of the economy.

The CHAIRMAN: The question is that opposition amendment (8) on sheet 7486 be agreed to. The committee divided [16:17]

(The Chairman—Senator Marshall)