[Peetwo]

Dicky King the worst Minister oversighting Transport EVER??

Courtesy of HofR Question time Monday (bucket on standby recommended  ):

Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa—Leader of the Nationals) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Australia's top-selling car brand, Toyota, doesn't domestically sell a single vehicle that will meet the end point of the vehicle efficiency standard required to avoid the new family car tax. Industry analysis shows the popular family SUV the Toyota RAV 4 will be taxed up to an extra $11,000 on every sale. Does the minister agree with the comments by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy that 'no particular model will go up'?

Ms CATHERINE KING (Ballarat—Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) (14:36): Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) (14:36): Well, here we go again. It's the political party of the '$100 lamb roast'. I had lamb on the weekend, and I don't remember it being $100. It was very nice, thank you very much. It's the party of, 'Whyalla will be wiped off the map.' I haven't been there recently, but I know the Prime Minister has. There are millions of dollars of investment going into Whyalla. And, of course, it's the party of 'the end of the weekend'. Well, here we go again. You cannot believe a single thing these Chicken Littles of Australian politics say—not a single thing. They know the figure that they just quoted has been completely made up. On this side of the House, we want Australians to have greater choice in the new vehicles that they buy and to pay less of their hard earned cash on fuel.

Opposition members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister will pause. The member for Page, the Leader of The Nationals and the member for Hume, screaming and yelling at someone while they're speaking is not only disrespectful; it's totally against the standing orders. Interjections are one thing, but yelling at someone while they're addressing the parliament is not on. And, to this minister particularly, it happens over and over again. If you want to interject, then interject—but no more yelling.

CATHERINE KING: As I said, in case you couldn't hear me, you cannot believe a single thing these Chicken Littles of Australian politics actually have to say. On this side of the House, we want Australians to have a greater choice of the new vehicles they buy and to pay less of their hard earned cash in fuel.

We're consulting on a new vehicle efficiency standard that is right for Australia, but Australians have missed out on millions of dollars of fuel savings because of those opposite. They're missing out on millions of dollars of fuel savings they could have been saving now because those opposite lacked the courage to do anything about it. The Leader of the Nationals needs to explain why he thinks that Australia should not have access to cars that are cheaper to run and why he thinks that Australians buying a new car should be paying more at the petrol bowser than those in other comparable countries. Explain why you think that is the case.

Australia has become, as we know, a dumping ground for less modern cars, and everyday Australians are paying more at the petrol bowser because of it. We currently stand alone with Russia as one of the last advanced economies not to have a fuel efficiency standard. The Leader of the Nationals might want to align his policies with those of Russia, but I would rather line up with 85 per cent of countries in the global car market. His own colleagues, frankly, not only supported a standard when in government; they confirmed that it would not push up prices:

So when fuel efficiency standards were introduced in the US, the most popular models before introduction stayed the most popular models after introduction … what we would call utes … There wasn't a material change in price and we don't expect that there would be a material change in price here.

There is not a single cost-of-living measure that those opposite don't want to vote against, including making sure Australians pay less at the petrol bowser. (Time expired)

On a slightly different area of DK's portfolio, I note the following (attributed to) miniscule MR appointment announcement on 11 January 2024:

Inaugural High Speed Rail Authority CEO announced

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Timothy Parker as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA), following a merit based selection process.

Mr Parker has considerable leadership and project experience in delivering complex infrastructure projects to drive the development of high speed rail in Australia.

Mr Parker has over 30 years of experience in developing, procuring and delivering significant infrastructure projects including as the Head of Project for Sydney Metro since 2018, as well as having complex infrastructure experience working in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

The Australian Government has committed $500 million to facilitate a high speed rail network on Australia’s east coast starting with the Sydney to Newcastle section of the network.

HSRA is tasked with advising on, planning, developing and overseeing the construction and operation of this transformational network.

Proper planning is critical to the success of any significant infrastructure project and getting it right from the start will be of enormous benefit to this project in the future.

I look forward to working with Mr Parker in the CEO role and continuing to work with the HSRA Board to deliver HSRA’s key priority of planning and corridor works for the Sydney to Newcastle section of the high speed rail network.

Hmm...interesting because I now have to question Betsy's decision to let DK rubberstamp this appointment given the revelations contained in this SMH article...

Transport executive denies corrupting hiring process despite ‘substantial evidence’

Michael McGowan and Max Maddison February 23, 2024 — 9.14am

The bureaucrat hand-picked by the Albanese government to run its new high-speed rail authority was found to have engaged in “serious misconduct” as part of an investigation ordered by the NSW transport department into allegations of “conflicts of interest and … corrupt conduct”.

But those findings, part of a long-running series of internal probes into alleged misconduct by employees and contractors within the agency responsible for delivering NSW’s multibillion-dollar Metro rail projects, were later rejected by the same department as being “unsupported by tangible evidence”.

Details of the explosive allegations, some of which were later referred to the NSW anticorruption watchdog, are contained in documents obtained by the Herald.

They reveal that Tim Parker, a former Sydney Metro senior executive, was last year informed that allegations he breached government procurement and competition policies had been sustained, only for a later report to cast doubt on the findings.

Parker, who was unveiled last month as the inaugural chief executive of the Commonwealth’s new High-Speed Rail Authority, has rejected the claims, telling the Herald: “I deny the allegations. What was alleged did not happen.”

Last year, an investigation commissioned by Transport NSW found there was “substantial documentary and circumstantial evidence” that indicated Parker’s actions – along with those of two other senior employees at Sydney Metro – had “significantly compromised” the process behind the hiring of a contractor on an almost half-a-million dollar salary.

“[There] is sufficient evidence, on the balance of probabilities, to substantiate each of the two allegations and find that through his conduct, Mr Parker acted in breach of the Transport Code of Conduct,” the investigation found.

The trove of documents – released via a parliamentary order – detail a complex series of internal investigations into anonymous complaints that alleged “conflicts of interest and alleged corrupt conduct” in procurement and recruitment within Sydney Metro between October 2022 and February last year.

After receiving the complaints, Sydney Metro conducted an initial investigation, codenamed Elara, into a series of allegations against Parker and the two other employees.

The complaints included an allegation that Parker breached procurement rules by approving the employment of a senior work health and safety officer on a salary of more than $450,000 without conducting a mandatory tender. That preliminary investigation was provided to NSW Transport, Sydney Metro’s umbrella agency, which hired an external investigative firm to review the complaints against Parker and the two other employees.

That investigation, dated August 21 last year, sustained an allegation that in February 2022 Parker instructed a contractor within the agency to “create a role to accommodate herself” following the end of her involvement with Sydney Metro. The investigation report stated Parker was alleged to have “facilitated” the contractor in drafting the justification for the position, “negotiating an elevated pay grade” and “self-endorsing the creation of the role”.

The role, worth $459,056, was later taken up by the same contractor. That, it was alleged, was a breach of procurement rules, which required competitive tenders for engagements that were worth more than $150,000.

The investigation found that, while “an approach to market” was initiated for the job, “circumstantial evidence indicated that the actions of Mr Parker [and two other senior employees] significantly compromised this approach to market through their shared intent to have [the contractor] assume the newly created role without challenge”.

On that basis, it found there was “sufficient evidence, on the balance of probabilities” to substantiate the allegations against Parker. The breaches initially found against Parker related to ethical decision-making, conflicts of interest, and manager and staff responsibilities. But despite those findings, another document published by parliament shows NSW Transport later poured doubt on the report that it had commissioned.

A document marked “workplace conduct/disciplinary case summary” seen by the Herald states the findings were “unsupported by tangible evidence” and were “heavily reliant upon contextual evidence”.

Parker himself flatly denied the allegations against him when approached for comment.

He said that he had never seen the external investigation report or the later case summary that appeared to clear him. He said he had not been interviewed during the external investigation, and had instead been provided a “warning letter” by the agency and had requested a review of its findings which he believed had not been completed when he left Sydney Metro at the end of last year. He said he had only been able to provide a written statement.

MTF...P2

PS: What a totally useless, smarmy, WOFTAM of a Minister - GOD SAVE OUR INDUSTRY - because Dicky King never will...