Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is certainly a delightful surprise to have the opportunity to speak on the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007. This is an important bill because it goes to the core of this government’s absolute commitment to ensuring that, when it comes to the financial management of the Commonwealth of Australia, we manage it in an appropriate and guided way. In that respect, it is important to take time to pause and to consider this government’s financial performance and the various legislative safeguards and initiatives that this government has taken to ensure that there is a suitable financial framework in place, and contrast that with the performance of previous federal governments which perhaps have not been quite so diligent when it comes to financial frameworks or, importantly, when it comes to the management of the Australian economy.

In this respect, I note that the bill primarily amends division 3 of part 4 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. There are five sections in the division, each of these relating to an appropriation authority. There are also a number of consequential amendments contained in the bill to the Auditor-General Act 1997, as well as to the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. I am also pleased to note that this bill clarifies other matters within the FMA Act with respect to delegations.

From my perspective, if you look at it in a collective sense, the amendments that are before the chamber today will reduce red tape when it comes to Australian government administration, will provide a simpler financial framework and will ensure that the administration and management of appropriations are simplified when it comes to Australian government decisions. This underscores the fact that there is continuing evidence of an ongoing incremental set of improvements to the financial framework. This is in fact the third financial framework legislation amendment bill, with financial framework legislation amendment legislation having been passed in the previous years, 2005 and 2006. Each of these has evidenced ongoing monitoring and review. This demonstrates that incremental improvements to the financial framework will continue on an ongoing basis.

I have basically touched upon all the key initiatives in this bill as I see them. I commend the bill to the House.

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