How good was Barnaby?
So have you ever wondered to yourself: what would I have to do to get 126 million dollars? Well it seems that it’s just way easier than any of us would ever have dreamed – it seems that all you have to do is ask Barnaby Joyce and exchange a couple of letters.
Yup, that’s it, just two letters.
This is the update so far on POW!’s various freedom of information requests on Emu Swamp Dam. I reckon FOI requests, a boring and tortuous process, are specifically designed to make the average punter give up and let secrets be secrets. But we remain undaunted, and push on with our search for answers ...
What we can report so far is that the only documents that have been identified by the relevant Federal department as relating to the promise of an additional $126.6 million of taxpayer money by the previous government are two letters between the Federal and State governments.
Yup, that’s it, just two letters.
There was no new business case, even though the new cost estimate of $210 million was more than double the original estimate, and means the project has a negative cost benefit ratio. There was no review of the project by the National Water Grid Advisory Body.
So the rumours around town that Barnaby Joyce promised the funds at a local meeting may not be that wide of the mark. Certainly he doesn’t seem to have bothered himself with such tedious things as “value for money”, “due process” or “financial accountability”. And why would he? That money is not his money, it’s just taxpayers’ money (i.e. our’s), and he’s giving it to a project being championed by his mates.
How good was Barnaby?
Well, as it turns out, if you’re an investor in Emu Swamp Dam maybe Barnaby wasn’t that good. The money was only a loose promise, and the previous government didn’t even lock it in. Now the project is, along with various other announcements made by the previous government, under proper scrutiny to ensure that taxpayer money is being properly spent.
But let’s just say that the money promised for the dam is still there come October. Will that mean the dam gets built? GBIP would still have to show it represented value for money, something they have been silent on for the last 12 months since the tender results came in. And GBIP would have to meet all the preconditions to approval, which it has made no progress on at all over the last 12 months. Instead this project has gone silent. Doesn’t seem very promising to me.