'Senator, I agree': $30m Western Sydney airport land deal 'looks like' a cover-up, says infrastructure chief

Auditor general referred matter to federal police because material was suggestive that the commonwealth may have been defrauded'

The head of Australia's infrastructure department has agreed that it looks as though officials attempted to cover up an inflated valuation for a controversial land sale connected to the second Sydney airport - and insists that he's embarked on a clean-up exercise.

Simon Atkinson, the secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, faced hours of questions on Monday before Senate estimates about a decision by officials to spend $30m on a parcel of land near the Western Sydney airport worth just $3m - an acquisition that has been excoriated by the Australian National Audit Office.