John Forrest (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a plea. I have served on the Public Works Committee for my entire time in this parliament. It is a committee whose work I enjoy. It gives me the opportunity to use my professional expertise as a civil engineer. During that period there have been many occasions when requests for expedition of projects have been made and the committee has worked extremely hard to facilitate the process. It has given permission for concurrent documentation and has not stood in the way. I am somewhat disturbed when I hear reports of thoughts within the bureaucracies that the standing committee is in the way. It is not at all. It is a very useful and important committee, not only to supervise the precious resources that taxpayers, who are listening, provide for us to spend on public infrastructure but to scrutinise them to ensure that there is value for dollar and the money is well spent.

In my time there have been a number of projects in which the process of evidence and the comments and submissions from outside players have saved the Commonwealth enormous amounts of money. One such project involved the unloading of armaments into Australia. A site was suggested that was completely remote, which the Department of Defence had not even recognised. I think the involvement of the Public Works Committee in that process saved taxpayers $50 million. The Public Works Committee process is a good one, a process of accountability.

The thing that disturbs me most is the willingness of the minister to override this important public process. I am not placated by his comment at the dispatch box that he recognises the significance of the committee. I say to members on both sides of the House, who beaver away on committee work, travelling the nation collecting evidence: think about the question before us. It is a reasonable request that this inquiry be referred to the Public Works Committee. We will treat it expeditiously and report by 17 November. It is a perfectly reasonable request and it is not too late for you, Minister, to see reason and accept that the public of Australia would expect the Public Works Committee to exercise its statutory rights and supervise the expenditure of the public’s precious money. I leave the decision to you, Minister. You have an opportunity now to do the right thing by Australian taxpayers in ensuring that their precious dollars are supervised properly, which is the role of the Public Works Committee.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

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