2016-02-02
The Australian Greens will move for the Senate to formally request an Auditor-General's investigation of proposed federal funding for the Perth Freight Link and WestConnex project in Sydney.
"The Auditor-General was scathing in his critique of the East-West Link Project in Melbourne, but there is unfinished business here," Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said today.
"Identical abuses of process are being made with the Freight Link, in addition to unique failures of the Barnett government.
"I met with the Auditor-General in 2015 to request that an audit be undertaken, and since then the case has greatly strengthened," Senator Ludlam said.
"The WA government provided three different cost-benefit analysis estimates without disclosing any of their assumptions. This is in direct contravention of the Coalition promise not to fund infrastructure projects worth more than $100 million without the publication of a proper cost-benefit analysis - just as they did with the East-West Link. The project was only evaluated by Infrastructure Australia after the funding decision was made, just as it was with the East-West Link.
"No alternatives were even considered by the state and federal governments, despite expert advice provided to them. There is no detail about phase 2 and 3 of the project, which can't even be completed by the time Fremantle Port reaches its maximum capacity.
"The Perth Freight Link approval was knocked out by the Supreme Court of WA, and yet still the government wants to press on.
"The management of this project has been diabolical. An investigation from the Auditor-General will play a vital role in making certain that such a calamity can never be repeated," Senator Ludlam said.