Secret documents reveal the Brumby Government ordered pipe for the north-south pipeline before it knew what environmental approvals were required, Shadow Minister for Country Water Resources Peter Walsh said today.
The Deputy Leader of The Nationals said Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Victorian Liberal National Coalition showed the board of Melbourne Water approved the ordering of the pipe from Tyco Water Pty Ltd on November 12, 2007.
But Planning Minister Justin Madden was not even asked by senior Melbourne Water project managers whether an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) was required for the project until a week later.
“These documents show Labor was always going to go ahead with the pipeline and the approval of a $750 million project was a mere formality,” Mr Walsh said.
“Clearly, Melbourne Water knew the government never had any intention of carrying out an EES, otherwise it wouldn’t have gone ahead and placed the order.
“The north-south pipeline has been a con from the start, and these documents are more evidence of Labor’s astonishing arrogance.”
Mr Walsh said equally damning was the fact that the pipe was ordered ten months before state and federal authorities had actually signed off on the project.
"The Treasurer did not grant approval to proceed with construction of the north-south pipeline until September 2008 − ten months after Melbourne Water had ordered the pipe.
“It also took until September 2008 for the Federal Government to give approval under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.”
Mr Walsh said the revelations came on top of the Auditor-General’s findings that the government failed to conduct a rigorous analysis of the water savings available to the project.
“The decision to order materials for the pipeline was made before an appropriate cost analysis, before environmental approval and almost a year before the Federal Government signed off on the project,” Mr Walsh said.
“There’s something wrong with a government that blatantly ignored scrutiny and due process to ensure this white elephant project went ahead.”
Media contact: Peter Walsh (03) 5032 3154
