AN INFRASTRUCTURE initiative headed by Senator Matt Canavan has been called into question amid claims of fiscal irresponsibility and inactivity.

Concerns about the "incompetence” of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) have been referred to the National Audit Office for investigation.

A request has been sent to the Australian National Audit Office by former Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan, asking them to investigate the operation of the NAIF, its independence and the quality of the systems and analyses being implemented.

The NAIF was established in mid-2016 to provide $5 billion in concessional finance over five years to encourage private sector investment in Northern Australian infrastructure including ports, rail, water, airports and communications - but has not yet delivered a project.

Mr Canavan has hit back at the audit request, saying if Mr Swan had "genuine concerns” about the NAIF he would have raised them while the facility was being set up with bipartisan support in Parliament.

The negative comments surrounding the lack of projects funded by the NAIF were also addressed by Mr Canavan.

"The NAIF was modelled on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and its operations are on track to a similar timetable to the CEFC, which didn't complete its first transaction until it had been in place for almost a year,” he said.

"The NAIF began operating on July 1 last year, so it's just over 9 months old.

"There are more than 50 active inquiries in the project pipeline, and more than half of them are from Queensland.”

Member for Keppel Mrs Brittany Lauga alleged more money had been paid to the members of the NAIF Board since its inception, than funding distributed to job-generating projects.

Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga Chris Ison ROK020217cshoalwater1

"Even with a Board being paid a total of more than $500,000 per year to make major decisions on such projects, not one project has been announced... not one dollar has been released,” Mrs Lauga said in a statement.

"Despite having $5 billion at their disposal, NAIF has failed to provide a single cent to job-delivering infrastructure projects in the north, while the NAIF board chair was landing a bonus of $34,000 a year.

"Board members are paid between $43,000 to $146,000, which is dead money given their inability to process a single piece of infrastructure to date.”

Mr Swan has raised concerns about "unacceptable fiscal risks to the Commonwealth”.

"Concerns as to whether the NAIF has the capacity to conduct proper due diligence, are raised by the paucity around their governance and policies,” Mr Swan wrote to the National Audit Office on March 27.

Mr Swan's letter goes on to outline basic requirements which he claims the facility has failed to meet and express concern over practices.

Former Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan Iain Curry

"The NAIF has indicated that it does not have a Risk Appetite Statement, which it is required to under its mandate,” he wrote.

"It is unclear how the NAIF can be conducting any project assessment while such basic documentation is lacking.

"The fact that the NAIF has also refused to release other policies raises concerns about a lack of transparency.”

The number of staff employed to administer the NAIF in comparison to the large amount of public money at its disposal also came under-fire from Mr Swan with just 12 staff administering the five billion dollars of public money.

"This rates very poorly with other financing agencies with comparable funds at their disposal,” he wrote.

"For example, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which had 45 staff in its first year and now has 60 and lends over $8 million a year, and Efic itself, which has over 100 staff in total.”

A copy of former Treasurer Wayne Swan's referral to the Australian National Audit Office is available here.