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Letter
to Anthony Albanese 20 Jan 2023
Defined Terms and Documents
Discussion Paper Annexure A
Annexure B
Annexure C
Annexure D
- References to "corruption" in the
Writer's
Letter to
the Prime Minister dated 20 Jan 2023
4th Reason -
Pork-barrelling - utilising the
Public Purse on projects to win votes has been
rife and unchecked for too long
Danielle Wood
CEO of the
Grattan Institute article
Grey corruption
cuts our living standards ....... - Feb
2022 notes
"Decades
of economic research have illuminated the relationship between government
corruption
and economic stagnation. It has also identified the Reason
corruption
is such a handbrake on growth."
It lists the following four consequences of government
corruption:
a)
Increases uncertainty around investment decisions
b)
Influences the level and type of government spending.
c) Results
in more red tape and regulation.
d) Erode
some forms of “civic” or “social capital” – essentially the trust between fellow
citizens.
Political parties spending taxpayer money on campaign advertising
"A
Grattan Institute report released 10 Oct 2022 confirms what we all suspected: that
government spending on taxpayer-funded ads consistently spikes in the lead-up to
elections."
Politicised taxpayer-funded advertising
"Weaponising
taxpayer-funded advertising for political advantage wastes public money,
undermines trust in politicians and democracy, and creates an uneven playing
field in election campaigns. Something has to change."
Michelle Grattan (University
of Canberra) article "Crossbencher,
Helen Haines, on Morrison and integrity" (August 2022) includes -
"She argues that “public money being spent for political gain through
so-called rorting or pork barrelling is potentially
corruption.”
5th Reason -
Stealing from the
Public Purse
for one's own political gain is no different to
stealing from one's employer for personal gain
If an employee
embezzles $100,000 or so from his/her employer and is apprehended, he/she
will be Sentenced to a term in jail as Punishment and as a Deterrent to others.
If a brazen bank robber steals at gun point say $40,000, he/she would also be
Sentenced a similar Punishment for their theft.
Australia's laws have to change to
render politicians that steal from the Public Purse for their own
personal benefit, or their party's benefit, on projects to win votes, without submitting
a
Conforming Cost-Benefit Analysis
to the Productivity
Commission well prior to execution of financing documents and construction
contracts, should be similarly subject to jail incarceration Punishment if the
Politician/s cannot refund
the wasted millions or billions.
Australia's legislators have been slow to learn from political
corruption
in NSW.
The pertinent State or Treasury Minister/s could be litigated under
both criminal law and civil law if she, he or they failed to provide a
CC-BA, and the
particular costly project was found to be materially uneconomical – meaning the
construction and operating costs were far greater than patronage revenues from
travelling passengers/users/vehicles, and alternative bus transport was demonstrably cheaper and more
flexible to 'user demands':
·
The
pertinent State or Territory ‘Treasury Dept’ that provided funding for the
infrastructure project could litigate the Minister/s for financial damages if it
was found that the pertinent Minister/s failed to undertake requisite ‘due
diligence’ by submitting
a
Conforming Cost-Benefit Analysis,
but rather exhibited gross negligence and willful misconduct in appraising the
utility of the infrastructure project and the project failed to achieve the
Minister’s claims/assurances.
·
A
Class
Action could be run through the civil courts against the particular Minister/s
by citizens that suffered a financial loss as a result of the particular State
or Territory infrastructure project, provided independent appraisals reported
that the infrastructure project was largely concocted on the back of
an envelope without having lined up requisite Wooden Ducks specified
in a
Conforming Cost-Benefit Analysis.
8th
Reason - No state or territory is immune from
irresponsible planning of major infrastructure projects during recent years to
the detriment of the Public Purse:
News.com article
Taxpayers pick up tab for billions wasted on megaproject
blowout bungles (May 2021) evidences that no state or territory has
displayed responsible planning of major infrastructure projects
NSW
In
Nov 2013 the NSW Government announced the business case details for a
Central Business District and South East Light Rail
("CLSER"), with an estimated cost of $1.6 billion, and purportedly almost $4 billion
worth of benefits.
The
NSW Auditor-General Report dated 11 June 2020
estimated total cost to be $3.147 billion -
virtually double the original cost forecast as in
Nov 2013, the project business case summary estimated the CSELR
would cost $1.6 billion.
Legal
battles
cost NSW Govt to settle with the
Spanish contractor, Acciona, an additional $576 million.
CSELR was completed a year late
causing
significant traffic disruption to businesses and residents.
$60 million
was paid out for the small business assistance package due to
extended disruption.
Refer
History of
CSELR
cost increases and
construction delays.
Creative accounting hides $4b WestConnex blowout
- NSW Auditor General reveals.
On 15 May 2022 the NSW
Govt has announced it will tunnel 11km into the Blue Mountains from
Blackheath to Little Hartley (upper Blue Mountains) relying upon an
“in-depth
feasibility analysis and extensive investigation process”
that
“confirmed
the 11-kilometre toll-free tunnel from Blackheath to Little Hartley as the
preferred option“.
This it is public money being expended ‘out
in the boondocks’ either side of Mt Victoria in th Upper Blue Mountains
- hardly high traffic territory. Is the
proclaimed “in-depth
feasibility analysis and extensive investigation process”
open to public scrutiny? What are the
forecast traffic/patronage projections? What are the forecast construction
costs? What are the operating costs. What are the tunnel refurb costs
every 10 years? What tunnel water leakage costs are anticipated?
The NSW Auditor-General reported that the NSW Govt could have saved up to $25
million on the cost of the $38 million
Albert Tibby Cotter Walkway at
Moore Park.
For over 300
days each year, virtually no one uses it. The former
set of traffic lights that crossed ANZAC Pde would have disrupted vehicles only
when a big match was being played at the SCG, or former SFS. Traffic
lights to enable patrons to cross the light rail to the SCG would similarly only
disrupt for a big match, in the same manner that pedestrian traffic lights
have
disrupted
vehicle
flows
across Australia
for at least 60 years.
Victoria
Ballooning costs for Melbourne’s
West Gate tunnel that could have been resolved before contracts were
signed.
Melbourne’s West Gate
Tunnel project was awarded to Transurban after the firm approached the Victorian
Government with a proposal. However an Auditor-General's report questioned
whether the project should have been put out to tender. The project is now
running late and costs are rising.
LABOR’S WEST GATE
TUNNEL CHAOS CONTINUES WITH LATEST BLOWOUT.
Former CEO of V/Line, James Pinder, charged with four
allegations of misconduct in public office, four charges of receiving secret
commissions, and one charge of conspiracy to solicit secret commissions, the
Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission’s (IBAC) says. Mr Pinder
and a former manager at Metro Trains are among seven people charged
following an investigation by IBACC into serious
corrupt conduct in V/Line
and Metro’s tendering and procurement processes.
Queensland
"Queensland’s “New Generation Rolling stock” debacle was due to rushing to
market; a stunning display of ineptitude. Qld's fancy new
trains were ordered to a specification determined by the Queensland Government
that breached Queensland’s own laws,
as they did not meet
disability access legislation with the ludicrous result that a wheelchair user
might not be able to squeeze between the seats to get to the supposedly disabled
loos, which were in fact inaccessible for some disabled passengers. The $4.4bn trains were
essentially illegal with the state paying $361m to rectify the bodge job."
South
Australia
"South
Australia's largest infrastructure project, North-South Corridor project,
with planning underway
for the section between Torrens and Darlington, has suffered delays and cost
blow outs with the completion date pushed backed to 2031.
"It was $9.9 billion prior to the state election which the Labor Party won. $15 billion
is now being spruiked."
Western Australia
"WA’s
Auditor General uncovered nearly $600 million worth of cost blowouts in
selected state government projects — with the completion date for nearly half
the works pushed back by a year or more.
For the
second time in two years the McGowan Government was also whacked over its lack
of transparency over major infrastructure projects, with Auditor General,
Caroline Spencer, again appealing for more regular publicly released progress
updates. The
Office of the Auditor General examined 17 major projects and found their
combined budgets had ballooned from $5.11 billion when originally approved to
$5.67 billion, an increase of 11 per cent.
Of 14
active projects audited, seven had their completion dates extended by a year or
more — including the Forrestfield-Airport Link and Geraldton Health Campus
redevelopment, neither of which is expected to open until two and a half years
beyond its original completion date."
Tasmania
Fourfold budget blowout for promised Greencard overhaul - The Mercury,
Tasmania
- 24 June 2022
$300 million Marinus cost blowout
- The
National Tribune - 24 June 2022
Labor might
recover the taste for reform that characterised the Hawke-Keating years.
garry.bowditch@sydney.edu.au
all five mainland
states
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