Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

With respect, Senator Scarr, I sat quietly and listened to the totality of your question. You've asked me a question. I'm trying to answer it as directly as I can. You might recall I complimented you for the interest that you've taken in this matter. I think that if your other colleagues start doing the work that you've done then we might get some better outcomes in terms of discussion about important changes to legislation in this country.

The investment mandate in any submissions made by the board of the corporation to the government will be tabled in parliament. It's important to note that the investment mandate does not create any powers for the NRF; rather, it's a direction from the government about how the NRF performs its investment functions and exercises its investment powers. This model is an established operational model that is consistent with and, in our view, has worked well for similar Commonwealth specialist investment vehicles such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, all of which are guided by non-disallowable investment mandates.