Tasmania’s investment strategy lacks direction, Auditor-General report reveals

Tasmania’s business investment framework has been slammed as fragmented and unfit for purpose by the Auditor-General, despite claims of facilitating $5.3 billion in projects.

Tasmania's Coordinator-General John Perry.

Tasmania’s framework for securing business investment is “fragmented and not-fit-for-purpose” and hampered by the lack of an overall strategy, the Auditor-General has found.

Auditor-General Martin Thompson released his report on Investment facilitation through the Office of the Coordinator-General (OCG) on Monday.

He found that ”a whole-of-government strategy is needed to guide decisions to commit public resources to support investment projects”.

“The lack of a strategy meant objectives for facilitating investment in Tasmania are not well defined,” he said.

“This means that measures for monitoring progress towards objectives to Parliament and Tasmanians are also insufficient.”

The Auditor-General noted that the OCG was brought late into negotiations about the future of the King Island Dairy, where it eventually played a key role.

And the office was not consulted at all about the proposed sale of and at Wilkinsons Point.

The OCG claims to have facilitated more than $5.3bn in investment across more than 130 projects during a decade of operation.

But the report noted that those included a $45m development at Kangaroo Bay and $80m for a private hospital at New Town – neither of which has gone ahead.

Since it was set up in 2014, OCG has reported that it has consistently met its target for

facilitated investments.

‘However, this is the only performance measure tied to Budget funding, so Parliament and the public have a limited understanding of what OCG has done.

“OCG holds a significant role in delivering public value through attracting and facilitating

investment.

“However, its failure to clearly and consistently communicate its purpose, activities, and outcomes has led to unintended consequences for Parliamentary scrutiny and public perception.”

The report made four recommendations to improve strategy, all of which were accepted by the government.

Coordinator General John Perry is one of the state’s highest-paid public servants with an annual salary package worth more than $446,000 per year.

Earlier this year, Mr Perry produced an analysis of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium which found it would generate “at least” $220m in new economic activity per year – a return of $4.97 each year for every dollar spent from the state budget.

It was criticised for not taking into account the cost of building the stadium, but only the interest.

Originally published as Tasmania’s investment strategy lacks direction, Auditor-General report reveals