Federal Member for Nicholls Damian Drum said two weeks ago that while the business case had been delivered to the Australian Government, he wasn’t privy to the details because of confidentiality imposed by the Victorian Government.
Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan was approached last week about whether the confidentiality in place while the business case was prepared still applied.
“We’ve done the business case and it’s with the Commonwealth. The release of the business case is a matter for the Commonwealth Government,” the minister said.
The News inquired again about its release with the Australian Government only to be told it couldn’t be released without formal advice.
On Friday morning Ms Allan emailed a letter to Mr Drum’s office advising that the confidentiality did not apply and that there were many stakeholders, including the community of Greater Shepparton, that wanted to know and understand the contents of the business case.
By late Monday, Mr McCormack’s office was still assessing the legality of releasing the business case, concerned the letter did not release it from the legal shackles given the document supplied from Victoria was marked cabinet confidential.
The Australian Government has committed $208 million towards the project but that money does not appear on the last two federal budgets or the forward estimates.
Despite rumblings from the Victorian side that this demonstrates a lack of commitment to the bypass, the word from Canberra is that the commitment is rock solid. There are concerns at a federal level that the cost has been inflated to make the project harder to swallow financially.
Under federal state partnership agreements, the Australian Government funds 80 per cent of the cost of joint infrastructure projects and the Victorian Government 20 per cent.
“We’re awaiting advice from the Commonwealth Government regarding how they wish to progress the project,” Ms Allen said.
“I will continue to work constructively with the Deputy Prime Minister to deliver the projects both governments have committed to.”
Mr Drum reiterated that the Victorian Government has the capacity to release the business case which he said must be made public.
State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed said the economic, safety, congestion and liveability arguments for the bypass were well known and the community deserved to know what to lobby for to get it built.
“Can we stop this political argy-bargy and release the business case, we need to know what is in it so we can advocate effectively to resolve what is a long-standing and major issue for our region.,” she said.
