BER spending heads audit of cost blowouts

THE Gillard government's school fiscal stimulus program will be investigated by the Victorian Auditor-General.

THE Gillard government's troubled school fiscal stimulus program will be investigated by the Victorian Auditor-General as part of a broad assessment of waste and budget overruns in major projects.

Auditor-General Des Pearson yesterday flagged he would examine the outcomes of the Building the Education Revolution work conducted in the state, judged by a federal taskforce as being slow, lacking quality and at times providing questionable value for money.

Mr Pearson also plans to examine how the BER assets will be sustained through maintenance programs and how the Baillieu government plans to allocate infrastructure investment for education.

The focus on the BER will be part of a wider inquiry into more than $4 billion worth of investment into major school infrastructure, with the investigation to be part of Mr Pearson's 2012-13 audit plan.

This means the report could be tabled before the next federal election, potentially embarrassing federal Labor over the quality and efficiency of work undertaken during the BER process. Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews yesterday defended the $16.2bn BER, arguing that the stimulus had provided valuable infrastructure and employment in the midst of the global financial crisis.

"(It) delivered the economic stimulus that was central to keeping Victorians and Australians in work," he said.

The Auditor-General also has flagged an investigation into public sector major project cost overruns in Victoria, which have reached $2bn.

These project overruns are not confined to education.

As part of this process, Mr Pearson plans to investigate Victoria's project review process, which is meant to support departments in the selection, management and delivery of projects and programs.

These so-called gateway reviews affect projects of $100 million or more, but the broad major project agenda by the previous state Labor government has been criticised by the incumbents for being wasteful and inefficient.

Victoria had been the slowest to deliver projects.