Brumby vows less secrecy on big projects

Farrah Tomazin, November 1, 2006

TREASURER John Brumby has bowed to internal Labor pressure by promising to be less secretive about infrastructure projects done in partnership with the private sector.

As the election campaign officially began yesterday, Mr Brumby pledged that, if re-elected, Labor would provide more information about the controversial public-private partnerships.

Taxpayers have billions of dollars invested into PPPs such as Eastlink, Southern Cross Station redevelopment and the Melbourne Convention Centre redevelopment.

Mr Brumby promised that a future Bracks government would release full "value-for-money statements" and "public interest statements" within three months of a PPP deal being closed.

"I think it's fair to say that the community is demanding even more information, so I think in this policy we acknowledge that," he said.

The election promise comes only weeks after a Labor-dominated parliamentary committee found that Government secrecy surrounding PPPs meant Victorians had no idea whether they provided real value for money.

But while the Treasurer seems to have given some ground, he has not agreed to a Labor Party platform that called on him to provide the value-for-money statements within a week of project disclosure.

Mr Brumby said he did not believe the process had been too secretive, but governments needed to respond to community expectations. But Liberal shadow treasurer Robert Clark said: "Despite what Mr Brumby has said, this is clearly evidence that the way he has handled PPPs has been far from accountable."

The move on PPPs is part of a Labor policy to release annual infrastructure reports.