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Unit 5, 13-15 Stokes St 30 April 2025 Mr. Adam Brandt (03) 9417 0772 Member for Melbourne and Leader of the Australian Greens
PO Box 1063 Dear Lower House Member of the Australian Parliament New Policy Initiative that will rectify Australia's empirical record as one of the most wasteful abusers of its Public Purse - outside a few South American regimes. The 16 Reasons' chronicled in the Writer's Letter (on CD, USB and A4) sent to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, dated 20 Jan 2023 (and emailed on 22 Jan 2023) behoove the Commonwealth Parliament to rely upon SECT 96, SECT 97 Audit and SECT 98 of the Australian Constitution (summarised in Annexure B) to enact parliamentary legislation to obligate Australia's six States to submit a Conforming Cost-Benefit Analysis to Australia's 'productivity expert' at least six weeks prior to Financial Close for each prospective transport and communications infrastructure project with a forecast Capex exceeding AUD$20 million, initially limiting this obligation to rail infrastructure projects. The Commonwealth Productivity Commission must audit a Conforming Cost-Benefit Analysis that must be submitted (at least six weeks prior to Financial Close) by the proponents of future government infrastructure projects is 'the foundation, the corner stone' to materially halt the horrendous waste over the last 10+ years of the Public Purse which in Victoria and NSW now cannot meet other more vital social needs (aged care workers, state school teachers, nurses, railway employees, State police, Centrelink employees 'et al'), A seminal July 2009 publication "6. Evaluating major infrastructure projects: how robust are our processes? - Henry Ergas and Alex Robson - (largely republished on the Productivity Commission website in Aug 2009) as THE SOCIAL LOSSES FROM INEFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS: RECENT AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE offered for the Commonwealth Productivity Commission "to be a centre of excellence for cost–benefit analysis within the Australian Government" Completing and submitting a Conforming C-BA for appraisal at arm's length by a specialist, objective third party is a lot cheaper than charging into demolition/construction and learning from often exceedingly costly project management oversights, thereby enabling appreciably more of the Public Purse to be directed to aged care, child care, youth allowance, teachers, nursing, flood relief, road repairs, homeless accommodation et al. The problem (pork-barreling / grey crime / conflicted Govt decision making) is deep rooted, unfair, wasteful and longstanding. The solution is swift, simple and steadfast because the Commonwealth Constitution enables decisive corrective action. A dozen countries each with a population larger than Australia that – · didn’t live off the sheep’s back in the 1950s and 1960s, and · haven’t exported the array of minerals that Australia has over the last 30 years hauling in Easy Bucks - part of which end in its Public Purse, have by economic necessity observed the 'objective discipline' of Cost-Benefit Analysis, that has included a full Cost-Benefit Analysis including at least one alternative infrastructure solution, when deciding upon new infrastructure projects to expend their precious Public Purse. Yours sincerely
Philip James Johnston . |
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