Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I raise the issue of Senator Nash's failure to provide answers to questions asked in question time that she has taken on notice. She has had notice of this. We had questions taken on notice from Senator Cameron, Senator Pratt, Senator Dastyari, Senator Watt and Senator McAllister last week.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I indicated to the chamber last week that I would be providing answers to questions taken on notice in due course. As is the process, the conclusion of question time is the appropriate time, and I rise to table answers to questions taken on notice and seek leave to have them incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The answers read as follows—

Answer to question taken on notice - 6 September, 2017

Senator Urquhart: Yesterday, the Minister denied that her potential ineligibility as a senator had impacted her decision-making by claiming she was 'very recently with the member for Whitlam announcing $10 million for a road'. Given that the decision to fund this road was made almost 12 months ago, does the minister want to try again? Just name one funding decision made since questions about your eligibility as a senator were revealed.

Response:

As Minister for Regional Development, Local Government & Territories and Regional Communications, I make funding decisions regularly and frequently.

As I have already made clear, I will continue to execute my duties as Minister, but I do not intend on providing a live tally on the number of decisions I have made at any point in time.

Answer to question taken on notice - 6 September, 2017

Senator Cameron: My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Nash. Yesterday the minister begged senators to ask her questions about issues important to the Australian people, including, 'What is the coalition government doing to improve energy affordability?' Can the minister confirm that, under the coalition government, wholesale electricity prices have doubled?

Response:

When the Coalition repealed the Carbon Tax, it led to the largest fall on record in electricity prices. A fall in prices of up to 12.5 per cent across Australia according to ACCC, which was an annual cost saving of between $46 and $263 on energy bills.

Last time Labor was in office, electricity prices doubled, increasing by 101 per cent.

Answer to question taken on notice - 6 September, 2017

Senator Dastyari: I'm going to shock everyone here. My policy question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Nash. Grant program guidelines for the coalition government's $940 million Community Development Grants Program indicate that only applications 'identified by the Australian government will be considered'. Of the $940 million, Minister, how much has been allocated to projects in the Hunter Valley?

Response:

The Coalition has provided significant amounts of funding to the Hunter Valley region including more than $23 million as part of the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme on improvements to the Golden Hwy.

In 2017-18 alone, the Coalition will provide $5,955,599 in Roads to Recovery funding and $3,300,000 in Bridges to Renew al funding within the electorate of Hunter.

The Coalition has provided $950,000 to the Cessnock City Council in the Hunter Valley for the Cessnock Civic Precinct Revitalisation project and $1.25 million for the Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism Signage implementation project .

These are just some of the great projects that the Coalition is funding in the Hunter Valley region.

Answer to question taken on notice - 7 September, 2017

Senator McAllister: My question is to Senator Nash, the Minister representing the Deputy Prime Minister. I refer to the Deputy Prime Minister's joint release with the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, which states:

The Bolivia Hill upgrade builds on ... the $10 million I recently confirmed for thefuture Tenterfield Heavy Vehicle Bypass.

Can the minister confirm that the Tenterfield heavy vehicle bypass was funded by the former Labor government?

Response:

The Coalition government is the only government to fund the Tenterfield heavy vehicle bypass.

Answer to question taken on notice - 7 September, 2017

Senator Cameron: My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Senator Nash. How many road-funding projects have been announced in the New England electorate since September 2013?

Response:

The Coalition is funding a hundreds of projects across Australia, including a number of highly important road project in the electorate of New England, including the Scone Bypass, the Drury Street Bridge and the Bolivia Hill re-alignment.

The Coalition also boosted funding under the Roads to Recovery Programme by over $1 billion, providing critical funds to roads that have been neglected under the previous Labor Government.

Answer to question taken on notice - 7 September, 2017

Senator O ' Neill: My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Nash. I refer to the coalition government's $2.7 million grant through the Community Development Grants Program to Central Coast Group Training Limited for the construction of the North Wyong Skills Training Centre. What cost-benefit analysis or due diligence took place prior to the granting of this $2.7 million of taxpayer money?

Response:

All projects funded through Community Development Grants program go through a rigorous assessment process by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

This includes a detailed value for money assessment which looks at a wide range of factors, including any risks associated with the project; project benefits; project viability and sustainability; and proponent viability.

Projects cannot and do not proceed to funding until they have gone through this rigorous assessment process.

The process for providing funding under CDG is transparent and is in accordance with the CDG Guidelines, which are publically available.