Watchdog raises concerns about conflicts of interest in fast-tracking

The Auditor-General is concerned the Government’s Fast-track Approvals 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.

John Ryan says the bill needs 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.

Ryan said that while the manual set out “expectations and processes for how ministers should manage conflicts of interest”, there was “no legal requirement to comply with it”.

Given the significance of the decision-making powers in the bill, he encouraged the select committee to consider extra requirements to strengthen the management of ministerial conflicts of interest.

There is already concern that a list of entities written to about potentially submitting projects to be fast-tracked includes some linked to party donors.

Ryan was also concerned about some of the transparency provisions in the legislation.