Nov 30 2014: ONE of Daniel Andrews’ first moves as Victoria’s new premier will be to release contract details on the controversial East West Link.
Mr Andrews, whose party stormed to victory last night, said he would seek advice today about releasing the documents publicly.
“This has been a rushed and botched and all too secretive project,” he told the Nine Network on the morning after Labor defeated Denis Napthine’s one-term coalition government.
“I have a very clear mandate to release all the documentation, the business case, the contract and the side deal.
“We’ll be getting advice from the bureaucracy later today about making good on our commitment to release all of those documents. “I’ve got very different priorities and I think so do the people of this great state.”
Feb 12 2015:
So it was on Wednesday night. In a bizarre role reversal, the new Labor government was forced to defy an upper house order to table by noon on Thursday the very contract Labor previously demanded be immediately released.
This time it was the Coalition, without even a hint of irony, which was demanding transparency, voting with the Greens and four crossbench MPs to pass the order. No wonder people are cynical.
Short of actually complying, Labor had little choice but to tell the legislative council to, metaphorically, take a flying a leap, raising the possibility that the government's leader in the upper house, Gavin Jennings, could be censured or suspended.
According to departmental sources, Treasurer Tim Pallas has had a fully redacted version of the contract sitting on his desk for some time now.
Legal barriers removed, why then is Labor reluctant to release the document as promised?
The obvious explanation is that it is still hopeful of negotiating its way out of the deal, despite Andrews' previous claims that the contract isn't worth the paper it is written on.
The Age today
