Concept of accountability is a no-show in Victoria

There may be innocent reasons why most of the witnesses scheduled for parliament’s PAEC hearing will not show up but the lack of transparency we’re now used to in Victoria is arousing suspicion.

Quite literally half of the government-stacked committee’s time is wasted listening to ministers read scripted talking points. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Another day, another episode of dodging accountability in Victoria.

On Tuesday, more than half of the witnesses scheduled to appear before the parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing won’t show up.

Fancy hearing from Rail Projects Victoria chief Nicole Stoddart? Forget about it. Same goes for head honchos of other major projects.

They’re among more than a dozen senior public servants who seem to have synchronised their absences from hearings set to probe the state’s transport infrastructure agenda, including the $120bn Suburban Rail Loop.

Their apologies were sent to the committee last week, no reason given.

There might, of course, be completely innocent reasons for the late scratchings. But the relaxed attitude to transparency and accountability to which we have become accustomed in this state arouses suspicion.

Every year after the state budget is handed down, the PAEC committee holds public hearings to scrutinise the expenditure and activities of ministerial portfolios.

The roots of the committee predate federation. Ministers and senior departmental officers are expected to appear to answer questions about how our money is being spent.

The Victorian parliament boasts that “the committee has built a proud tradition of active engagement in oversight, producing reports at the forefront of promoting public sector reform and accountability”.

Anyone watching closely could mount an argument against that claim. Quite literally half of the government-stacked committee’s time is wasted listening to ministers read scripted talking points that would make even the most shameless of advertising executives blush.

The Dorothy Dixer may have been banned in Question Time, and replaced with ministerial statements, but it is alive and thriving in PAEC hearings. Much of the rest of the time is spent watching ministers dodge questions and block attempts from lesser-trained public servants to offer fulsome responses.

Increasingly, the PAEC’s work is being hampered, as has been complained about repeatedly in minority reports over recent years. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Increasingly, the committee’s work is being hampered, as has been complained about repeatedly in minority reports over recent years.

You’d hardly expect minority reports written by opposition MPs to be flattering of the government process. But the complaints should not simply be tossed aside.

Take those found in the report into the committee’s inquiry into Victoria’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, on the stacking of government MPs. “(It is) dominated by Labor government members and chaired by a Labor government member, with both a deliberative and a casting vote on all matters, would never deliver the necessary critical examination or accountability necessary in this crisis,” it said.

The report also noted: “Ministers would regularly avoid answering questions; the Labor chair of the committee would go to incredible lengths to interrupt questioning, waste time or even mute non-government members’ microphones on matters that ministers were sensitive about. Legitimate questions were even ruled out of order with no explanation.”

Anyone watching hearings last week would have seen such obfuscation in action. Nationals MP Danny O’Brien, a longtime PAEC member, summed it up well:

“How #paec goes: Me: Minister, what’s the time?

“Minister: Well let me give you some context … time was established around the time of the dinosaurs, which were of course wiped out by the former Coalition government. Clocks were invented … etc.”

He’s not exaggerating. A minority report he co-authored last year raised concerns about the increasing propensity of the Premier and his ministers “to simply deny the facts when presented them as written in the budget papers”.

Warning of the “deliberate obfuscation, stonewalling and lack of transparency by the bureaucracy”, this report also raised the failure of public servants to properly answer questions taken on notice.

Not having senior public servants at the PAEC hearing leaves lead minister Jacinta Allan to answer all questions — and deliver the government’s message. Picture: Valeriu Campan

It’s one thing to be cute when answering questions, but it’s another altogether to not bother even showing up to answer them. The failure of so many key public officials controlling Victoria’s transport infrastructure agenda is an affront to proper process, and raises questions about the usefulness of PAEC.

Especially when many economists say it is the state’s massive infrastructure agenda holding back our economic recovery. Analysts believe the record spend of the government’s Big Build will keep Victoria’s cash deficit large.

Despite introducing billions of dollars in new taxes in the budget, just $3.7bn is expected to be wiped from projected debt levels, with net debt on track to hit $171bn by 2026-27.

A report by ratings agency Moody’s warned the state’s capacity to deliver on budgeted infrastructure spending was the key factor in its projected debt burden. It also warned of ongoing negative pressure on Victoria’s Australian-low credit rating of AA, with no expectation the debt burden will stabilise before 2028.

You would think this gave PAEC members much to ask about. Of course, not having senior public servants there leaves lead minister Jacinta Allan to answer all questions. And deliver the government’s message in the process.

Now, that’s really doing what matters.

Shannon Deery is the Herald Sun’s state politics editor