Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the chamber. I will be very brief. This is not a move that we take lightly. This motion proposes and requests a reference to the Auditor-General to investigate the funding decisions that were made that led to proposed funding for the WestConnex project in New South Wales and the Perth Freight Link in Western Australia. On the proposal for the Auditor-General to investigate these two projects, I wrote to the Auditor-General last 9 July and then met with the Auditor-General on 12 August, proposing a reference on these very matters on the basis of the Auditor-General's excellent work on the East West Link project that effectively changed a state government in Victoria. We do not take this sort of step lightly, and in fact I think this is probably the first time that I have done something like this through a Senate motion. We think the debacle over the Perth Freight Link and WestConnex project funding absolutely is a prime candidate for the Auditor-General's careful scrutiny, and I commend this motion to the chamber.