THE Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee of the Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade will hear from a range of key organisations and businesses at a public hearing on Friday 23 June 2017 for its inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia, launched in February 2017.

The Sub-Committee is investigating whether elements of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 could be introduced in Australia, particularly the UK requirement for businesses and organisations to report on how they ensure their global supply chains are free of slavery and human trafficking.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub‑Committee, Chris Crewther MP, said the sub-committee welcomed the opportunity to meet with a range of organisations involved in combatting modern slavery in Australia and around the world, including the Walk Free Foundation, Anti-Slavery Australia and the Salvation Army.

“The Sub-Committee looks forward to hearing about the important work undertaken by these organisations to combat modern slavery, and to investigate how Australian businesses are currently addressing the risks of slavery and trafficking in their global supply chains,” Mr Crewther said.

Public hearing details: 9:15 am to 5:00 pm, Friday 23 June, Jubilee Room, NSW Parliament House, 6 Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website.

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THE Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has tabled its report on Commonwealth Infrastructure Spending based on the Auditor-General’s reports No. 14 (2015–16) Approval and Administration of Commonwealth Funding for the East West Link Project and No. 38 (2016–17) Approval and Administration of Commonwealth Funding for the WestConnex Project.

The inquiry highlighted the important role Infrastructure Australia plays in assessing infrastructure projects and determined that departing from full assessments of the East West Link and WestConnex projects reduced the evidence bases for decision-making, including full business cases.

The Committee concluded this approach is best avoided given the scale of public funding and the risks involved in infrastructure projects.

The Commonwealth contributed $1.5 billion in payments to both the East West Link and WestConnex projects as well as providing a $2 billion concessional loan for WestConnex.

The Committee noted the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development provided advice to the Government on various matters in the lead-up to funding decisions but was concerned at the Department’s lack of consideration of some issues in designing and negotiating the WestConnex loan.

The Committee was also concerned about the Department’s project payments and management of milestones.

Committee Chair Senator Dean Smith said the Department needed to give greater consideration to each of the concessions and risks involved in designing Commonwealth concessional loans and include this in its advice to decision-makers.

“The Department needs to better protect the Commonwealth’s interests when managing milestones to provide genuine incentives for funding recipients to progress projects and reduce the likelihood of payments being made too far in advance of need and delivery,” Senator Smith said.

The report makes five recommendations to the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, including:

• providing clear advice to Ministers on whether the requirements of land transport legislation have been met;
• only making significant payments when they are required by a project and meet agreed milestones, and advising Ministers of any interest charges, other costs and risks arising from advance payment proposals;
• requiring loan proponents to identify alternative funding strategies and justify why a Commonwealth loan would be the best funding option;
• reviewing the Department’s approach to drafting project approval instruments to identify relevant risks and incorporate mitigations; and
• reviewing the Department’s infrastructure IT system to improve its recording of milestones, the quality of data it receives from project delivery agencies and capturing more specific expenditure data.

Two further recommendations made by the Committee include:

• the Auditor-General consider a follow-up audit of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development’s administration of a concessional loan to the Sunshine Coast Airport expansion project; and
• Treasury review the funding recovery provision in the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 to consider the suitability of the current discretion applied to recover funding as well as the current inability to recover interest earned on unspent National Partnership payments.

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website.

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THE anti-gas green activist campaign has hobbled development in the southern states and is a significant factor in pushing electricity prices up, Queensland Resources Council (QRC) chief executive Ian Macfarlane has claimed.

"Yesterday the federal government made the extraordinary announcement that it would intervene in the free market due to a shortage of gas in the east coast market, which has led to skyrocketing power bills for households and businesses," Mr Macfarlane said.

Mr Macfarlane said it was mind-boggling that foreign- funded green activists had influenced energy policy in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, leading to gas shortages, blackouts and electricity prices going through the roof.

“New South Wales has excellent gas deposits that haven’t been developed because state politicians have buckled in the face of the relentless anti-gas green activist campaign,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Short-sighted NSW only produces about 5 percent of the gas supply it needs, which means it relies on other states like Queensland for its supply so households and businesses can keep this lights on.

“While NSW is in a state of gas panic, they expect Queensland to keep sending our maroon gas molecules south to keep their lights on at ANZ stadium tonight.

“But NSW is not alone, Victoria has a moratorium on all onshore gas, the South Australian Liberal opposition has pledged a gas ban, and the Northern Territory has a temporary moratorium.”

It is important to remember the gas export hub at Gladstone was approved because there was an expectation that NSW would go ahead and develop its own gas, but due to extreme green activist campaigns, NSW gas has been left in the ground, leaving the east coast in a state of panic over out-of-control prices for electricity and gas, Mr Macfarlane said.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee will hold a public hearing in Canberra on Thursday, 22 June for its inquiry into water use efficiency in Australian agriculture.

The Committee will hear from the National Irrigators’ Council.

Public hearing details: 12:15pm - 1:30pm, Thursday 22 June, Committee Room 1R2, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be broadcast live in audio format at aph.gov.au/live

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website.

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