Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens' amendments (1) to (4) on sheet 8907 and amendment (1) on sheet 8908 together:

(1) Clause 4, page 3 (line 21), omit "State or Territory", substitute "State, Territory or local government authority".

[payments to local government]

(2) Heading to subclause 5(1), page 3 (line 24), omit "States and Territories", substitute "States, Territories and local government authorities".

[payments to local government]

(3) Clause 5, page 3 (lines 25 to 30), omit "State or Territory" (wherever occurring), substitute "State, Territory or local government authority".

[payments to local government]

(4) Clause 5, page 4 (line 10), after "State, Territory", insert ", local government authority".

[payments to local government]

(1) Page 4 (after line 20), after clause 5, insert:

5A Transparency of payments

(1) Within 14 days after an agreement is entered into for the purposes of section 5, the Minister must:

(a) publish on the internet the full text of the agreement; or

(b) if the Minister is of the opinion that it is not in the public interest for the agreement to be published, the Minister must write to the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts and Audit outlining the reasons why he or she is of that opinion in relation to the specific agreement.

(2) Within 14 days after each 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, the Minister must publish on the internet:

(a) a list of all agreements entered into for the purposes of section 5 in the preceding quarter; and

(b) a statement outlining the total amount of payments made under the appropriation in this Act in the preceding quarter.

(3) Each list published pursuant to paragraph 5A(2) (a) must, for each listed agreement, include:

(a) the name of the recipient of the payment;

(b) the amount of the payment;

(c) the date or dates on which the payment was made or is to be made; and

(d) details of the nature of the agreement.

Note: Details of the nature of the agreement for the purposes of paragraph 5A(3) (d) may include whether the agreement relates to a grant, a loan, an investment, or some other arrangement.

(4) Each statement published pursuant to paragraph 5A(2) (b) must include:

(a) the total amount of payments made to recipients in each State and Territory; and

(b) the total amount of payments made to:

(i) State and Territory governments;

(ii) constitutional corporations; and

(iii) other persons.

(5) Before making an agreement for the purposes of section 5, the Minister must:

(a) conduct an open and transparent process in relation to the proposed payment; or

(b) if the Minister is of the opinion that it is not feasible to conduct an open and transparent process due to the urgent nature of the payment, the Minister must write to the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts and Audit outlining the reasons why it was not in the public interest that an open and transparent process be used.

Note: An example of an open and transparent process for the purposes of paragraph 5A(5) (a) is an open tender assessed against published criteria.

(6) Where applicable, payments made under the appropriation in this Act must comply with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines.

(7) In this section:

Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines means the legislative instrument made by the Finance Minister under section 105C of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 .

These amendments really relate to the Assistance for Severely Affected Regions (Special Appropriation) (Coronavirus Economic Response Package) Bill 2020, and amendments (1) to (4) on sheet 8907 explicitly add local government as a potential recipient of funds. This amendment adds the inclusion of supporting communities through financial assistance to local governments and their projects as a purpose of the bill.

As we know, many local government areas and their communities, especially in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, are still suffering from the massive impacts of the bushfires, and it will take a long time for them to recover from that alone. So the Greens want to add local government as recipients of these funds, so community projects can continue to be funded in the time of this crisis—community projects such as maternal and child health care, youth services and support for local art and cultural activities, amongst the many other wonderful community projects that local communities and councils run.

Amendment (1) on sheet 8908 inserts requirements for transparent reporting about how money is spent and an open process in allocating support funding. I understand that this funding is around $1 billion, so we really do need some transparency on that. This amendment will insert requirements to publish details of the contracts that are signed, with the full text of all agreements to be published within two weeks of finalising. It will also require the publication of a quarterly list of all agreements, including the recipient, the amount, the date of the payments and the nature of the agreement. This amendment will also require publication of a quarterly statement of the amounts expended under the bill, including the amounts paid to particular jurisdictions and types of recipients. The amendment requires that, where appropriate—and that's because the Greens recognise the urgent nature of some expenditure—the minister must use an open process to allocate funds: for example, an open tender. The minister must write every quarter to the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, outlining instances in which an open tender was not used and the reason it was not in the public interest. While we understand the urgency and the reason for this funding, we also think that appropriate transparency and accountability is still a valid process for any amount of public funds that are expended.