Abbott and Napthine ignored the facts on East-West fiasco – Opinion – The Australian Infrastructure Australia was created to ensure that investment in nation-building infrastructure was determined by productivity, not politics. This week’s release of documents related to the East West Link project in Melbourne reinforces the importance of this process. It is now clear that the Napthine and Abbott governments sought to subvert this proper process by funding the road. Former Victorian premier Denis Napthine had a cost-benefit analysis showing that for every dollar invested in the East West Link, there would be a return to the public of 45c. In the scheme of big infrastructure projects, a cost/benefit ratio of 0.45 is pathetic and makes it unworthy of funding. The government documents released this week show that the Victorian government response to this evidence was to hide the analysis. In fact, one document conceded that if the analysis was handed to Infrastructure Australia it “may be used as a justification for not supporting the project’’. This was a backhanded compliment to the integrity of Infrastructure Australia under its respected former chairman, Rod Eddington. Dr Napthine knew the project would not meet Infrastructure Australia’s standards in terms of delivering value for public money, so he hid the analysis before attempting to cook the books to make the project look more attractive. Tony Abbott was complicit in this process. anthonyalbanese.au/opinion-piece-abbott-napthine-ignored-facts-on-east-west-fiasco
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:21:37 +0000
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