Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Information on the cost-benefit analyses, as you say, is on the website. However, my understanding is that the detail that is required to enable the cost benefit analyses to be compared is not there. Particular details include the weight required to be assigned to each factor of the method. This sort of detail, assessment and analysis of the cost-benefit analysis is critical, because you can have cross benefit analyses but this level of information that is on the website is very different to the level of information that was required and that was included in the legislation until 2014. It was included there for a purpose. It was included so that we could have transparency. It was so not just people within Infrastructure Australia who knew what the cost-benefit analysis was and what the methodology was. It was so we could all have that information. The community was able to assess that information. That level of detail is required.

That level of detail was previously in the legislation. We feel it was inappropriate that it was removed. It was removed without any fanfare and without people knowing it was being removed in the changes to the legislation last year. My question to you, Minister, is this: can you confirm that the details, including the weight given to each factor in the cost-benefit analysis, is not available in the information Infrastructure Australia publishes on its website?