11. Question No. 11—Economic DevelopmentGLEN BENNETT (Labour) to the Minister for Economic DevelopmentQuestion No. 11—Economic Development11. GLEN BENNETT (Labour) to the Minister for Economic Development: Talofa Fofoga Fetalai fa'afetai tele. Does she agree with the Auditor-General that public sector organisations must have clear policy guidance and procedures to manage the risks to procurement processes that can arise from actual potential and perceived conflicts of interest"?Hon MELISSA LEE (Minister for Economic Development): Yes.Glen Bennett: Does she have confidence that the Minister of Health appropriately managed the risks to perceived conflicts of interest in the awarding of recent mental health contracts?Hon MELISSA LEE: I have no responsibility for the Minister of Health awarding the mental health contract. If the member is interested he can write to the Minister or actually put the oral question to the correct Minister.Glen Bennett: What steps will she take to ensure that her responsibility in procurement when it comes to mental health contracts follows the best practices of procurement processes?Hon MELISSA LEE: What I can tell the member is that I as Minister am responsible for the procurement framework—which the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is actually responsible for. But in terms of the procurement for the mental health issue that he is actually talking about it is part of our Budget '24 where we commit to the mental health services for our young people. That is not a lesson or a lecture that I am prepared to take from that member or that party who actually wasted $1.9 billion of taxpayer money for mental health and actually did not deliver very much.Glen Bennett: What does she say in response to the submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill by the Auditor-General that "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."?Hon MELISSA LEE: As I said earlier to that member as Minister I am responsible for the procurement framework; however responsibility for each procurement sits with the portfolio Minister responsible. Having said that the Fast-track Approvals Bill has joint Ministers responsible: the Minister for Infrastructure the Minister of Transport and the Minister for Regional Development. If that member is really interested he will put that question to those Ministers.Glen Bennett: Does the fact that there is a commitment in the coalition agreement on the management of conflicts of interest mean that normal procurement processes don't apply?Hon MELISSA LEE: The procurement framework is something that I am responsible for as Minister and MBIE as an entity provides advice to Government agencies so that they can actually exercise their responsibility to make procurement responsible—so that they are putting in good practices. But individual Ministers—if there are conflicts of interest in terms of procurement it will be managed through the normal Cabinet process and ministerial responsibilities.SPEAKER: Right that's very good. That concludes oral questions."