Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

I’m not? I’ll perhaps be the judge of that. The amendment ensures rigorous, independent and transparent advice is provided to the minister in relation to the national broadband network, while ensuring proper expert advice is included in the process and a public guarantee about the information is provided to Australians about the national broadband network. This process needs further objective analysis, and the opposition will deliver this analysis through this amendment. The exclusion of the Productivity Commission, the ACCC and the government’s own Infrastructure Australia from any advisory capacity and scrutiny of the bid process and tenders is absolutely absurd.

The opposition believes that if the government is going to spend $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ funds then no amount of rigour in the analysis of the project is too much. The opposition understands that the minister’s career hangs on his ability to deliver what he has promised. I should repeat that, because it is absolutely, entirely true—the opposition is keen to ensure that the process is not held to ransom by the minister’s career but delivers value for taxpayers’ funds and does not push the price of broadband out of the reach of working families. There are deep concerns with the process as it stands, including the role and the make-up of the minister’s expert panel. It is manifestly inadequate in guiding a broadband project of such scale and complexity that potentially involves the spending of up to $4.7 billion in public funds.

Of concern is the lack of key involvement of bodies, as I said before, such as the ACCC, the Productivity Commission and Infrastructure Australia, which I note is the body established by the government to prioritise infrastructure projects of national importance. The expert panel needs to adequately reflect the nature of this project, and the minister must seek advice from the expert panel on a broad range of critical issues outlined in section 4. The expert panel is to be provided with necessary assistance from the Commonwealth agencies and departments to ensure they can provide the best possible advice to the minister. The tender process must also be conducted in strict compliance with advice from the Auditor-General in relation to the principles of fairness, transparency, probity and value for money.