The Auditor-General John Ryan is concerned the Government’s fast-track consenting bill, which will give three ministers broad powers to consent certain developments, lacks transparency and effective ways of dealing with real or perceived conflicts of interest.
The bill allows three ministers to consent a range of nationally significant projects, with an expert panel having the ability to impose certain conditions on those consents.
Ryan wrote that the bill needed a stronger mechanism than just the Cabinet Manual for dealing with real or perceived conflicts of interest, given the extent of the power the legislation would grant to ministers.
“Ministers of course have a broad discretion to make decisions, however that power comes, in my view, with an obligation to be transparent to the public about how and why they made those decisions, particularly where those decisions differ from official advice,” Ryan wrote.
“We also know that conflicts of interest, whether real or perceived, can create public concern around the integrity of decision-making,” he said.