Labor welcomes news that the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) will investigate the governance and transparency of the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).
The Government announced the NAIF three years ago this month and it still hasn’t created a single job or invested a single dollar in Central or North Queensland.
Now we know why. They spend more time on Facebook and shopping on eBay than they do investing in jobs.
This year alone NAIF staff have accessed Facebook more than 15,000 times, and shopped on eBay more than 1,655 times.
Labor requested this investigation last year after serious concerns about the NAIF’s governance were raised. This includes issues like:
- Failure to create jobs and invest in infrastructure,
- Unexplained conflicts of interest held by NAIF board members,
- Issues with a lack of transparency and a refusal to respond to FOIs,
- Poor governance measures,
- Only a third of NAIF staff are actually based in Northern Australia.
The Auditor General is accepting public contributions until Tuesday, 31 July 2018 and will finalise his report by December 2018.
Labor wants to see the NAIF succeed. We want investment in infrastructure and we want jobs for Northern Australia. We hope this investigation can help deliver a more productive NAIF.
MEDIA CONTACT: 02 9790 2466
