David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister, for your comments earlier on the bill. I note that you pointed out concerns about the way the coalition have appointed people to boards. I would like to note that there was nothing to rectify that in this legislation to set up the High Speed Rail Authority. There was no transparent framework to do that. I thank the government for their support of my amendments to do that, to ensure that Australians know that the people on the board and running the High Speed Rail Authority have the right skills, represent different areas of the country and will do the job there.

Given that there would be hundreds of people appointed to boards by the government, I'm interested to hear from the government if it is committed to reviewing those appointments to ensure that there is a transparent process in all of these authorities and for these boards.