Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I'll just go through the amendments that are being considered and moved as a whole, and I thank the opposition for doing it that way. We won't be supporting the amendments moved by the opposition.

The first amendment goes to putting in that the authority will consult, liaise and negotiate with states and territories and other relevant parties. It is inherent that that is actually what the authority does and needs to do. It's inherent that the community will be a core part of the work of the High Speed Rail Authority. Frankly, this is in contrast to the way in which Inland Rail was done. I think there have been some pretty strong lessons learned about how you might actually engage with communities through that process.

In relation to amendment (2), Infrastructure Australia already evaluates business cases for transport infrastructure projects with an Australian government funding contribution of $250 million or over. In addition, business case evaluation reports are publicly released by Infrastructure Australia.

In relation to amendment (3), again we won't be supporting that. This is the amendment in which the opposition seeks to have at least one board member being from regional Australia. I'm not opposed to regional Australians being on boards at all, but this is an important principle here. This is a skills based board. This is billions of dollars, potentially, of taxpayer money. This is a complex engineering project as well. It is actually really important that we get the right people on the board and that we don't say that we're going to have a quota of regional people. Of course, I would love to be able to have someone who has the skills, experience and expertise. If they happen to live in regional Australia, that is absolutely a bonus, and I can certainly undertake that we will look and seek a person there. But it is actually really important that we have a skills based board. I'm often somewhat amused when we're lectured a bit over on this side. We have an affirmative action policy, and we've heard the Nats are very much opposed to that. I'm not sure having an affirmative policy or a quota for regions really is consistent with that principle when it comes to women, particularly.

Amendment (4) requires the authority to give progress reports. Information on the progress of the High Speed Rail Authority would be publicly available via its annual report and corporate plan. That is what happens with Inland Rail and with all of the other authorities that are under the portfolio already, so we don't think that's necessary. Similarly, with the final amendment that's being proposed by those opposite, again information on the progress of the High Speed Rail Authority will be publicly available via its annual report and its corporate plan. I thank people for their contributions on this bill. Who knew so many people loved trains? It's terrific to actually see people so dedicated to wanting to talk about the vision that this government has for the country to really start the process to bring high-speed rail to reality.

This is a complex, long-term project. We understand that; we're not trying to pretend otherwise. That's why the important work on fast rail and on faster rail and on building those important public transport networks continues. But, if you've got a vision for the nation, you've got a start. You hear that old adage that every journey starts with the first footstep, and this is really what this is about, but if you don't take that first step you never get to the end destination. This is really what this is about: establishing the authority, relooking at the business case, looking at the financing mechanisms, looking at the settlement policy around the areas where we want to start with high-speed rail and putting the money into the budget—which is in addition to the establishment costs of the authority, just so the member for Braddon is aware of that—so that we can make sure we've got the money available to actually get the work underway for corridor acquisition, the planning work that needs to be done and the work with the New South Wales government, in the first instance. In particular, we're looking at how we can bring better alignment with the investment of $1 billion, which is already sitting within the budget and has been maintained in the budget, to make sure that we get whatever we do in terms of faster rail in this corridor in alignment with the potential for high-speed rail well into the future.

Again, I thank everyone and say that we won't be supporting these amendments.

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