Greater Western Water debacle sums up the Allan government’s lack of transparency
The timing of these statements epitomizes the skepticism that permeates government behavior in this state. The public needs to be reassured that mistakes like those made here will not be allowed to happen again. Sending this kind of information during the holiday season shows that the government and GWW are more interested in making sure we don’t notice.
Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to this disdain from the authorities for raising public awareness. This was most evident during the state’s annual “Trash Day,” when hundreds of reports from state agencies and departments were tabled simultaneously in a brazen attempt to deflect scrutiny.
Water Minister Gayle Tierney declined interview requests; The government instead pointed to the independent review it had commissioned for us.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Fortunately, the changes put forward by the Greens this year to the Financial Conduct Act look set to end this terrible tradition. But the list of crimes against transparency is very long.
It is tempting to see as the archetype the way the Commuter Rail Loop first emerged, outside normal planning channels and without independent cost-benefit analysis. The broader regime of confidentiality agreements surrounding construction and other major infrastructure projects is an extension of the problem.
This year alone we have seen the opaque and secretive sacking of Victoria Police chief Shane Patton, with CFMEU investigator Geoffrey Watson, SC telling us that the Allan government’s investigation into corruption at the Big Build “was actually supposed to come through the doors of senior bureaucrats and go into ministerial offices in Spring Street. It did neither of those things”.
The year ends with a catalog of the Allan government’s failure to provide important information to those who want to understand our childcare crisis.
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So, as details of GWW’s failings emerged, it was little surprise, but still quite unsatisfactory, that the Allan government rejected our repeated requests for an interview with Water Minister Gayle Tierney ahead of this report on the debacle in October. Instead, the government referred us to its own independent review.
Such investigations and investigations should not protect bureaucrats and ministers; Their purpose is to give us tools and agreed-upon facts that we can talk about as we analyze what went wrong. They aim to start a conversation and accountability process, not end it.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson described Symes’s letter promising financial support for GWW as a “de facto bailout”. One has to hope that in the new year, an election year, we will not be faced with the real need for a bailout and all the additional uncertainty that this will entail.
But if that is the case, we need a government that is ready to stand before us and answer our questions, not distract us with talk about investigations and reports. It’s not clear if this is an election we’ll have in November.
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