Liberals defend the secrecy around its Expressions of Interest process, saying proposals will stay secret until they are approved

People should trust the Government with its Expressions of Interest process despite the secrecy applied to submissions, the Environment Minister says.

ALL details of a fresh tranche oftourism projects proposed for public land will remain secret until they have been approved by the Government, Environment, Parks and Heritage Minister Peter Gutwein says.

The Government said the projects being assessed under its controversial Expressions of Interest process would deliver $100 million in investment and 250 jobs in national parks, reserves and crown land around the state.

But those claims cannot be scrutinised because of a veil of secrecy.

About 30 proposals have already been approved, including new private huts on the South Coast, Overland, Walls of Jerusalem and Frenchmans Cap tracks plus the controversial proposal for Lake Malbena approved by RMPAT this week.

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Mr Gutwein has previously described the process as “an open and transparent framework” but on Wednesday said the proposals being considered in round two of the process will be kept secret until they are approved — to protect the intellectual property of the proponents.

That round opened in December 2016 and has no end date.

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The terms and conditions of any of the secret negotiations for leases and licences will also be kept secret forever because they are regarded by the Government as being commercial-in-confidence, preventing anyone from knowing how much is being paid for access to public land and for how long the licences operate.

And they are exempt from the provisions of the state’s Right to Information Act.

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Environment, Parks and Heritage Minister Peter Gutwein says the proposals being considered in round two of the process will be kept secret until they are approved. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Mr Gutwein on Wednesday said people should trust the Government to apply high standards.

“The EOI process allows some projects to come through the door and then obviously we assess them and determine whether or not we want to proceed to lease and license stage,” he said.

“Should we assess a project and determine that it will move to lease and license stage, then it will be made public.”

Mr Gutwein said the projects needed to be kept secret so other people couldn’t steal the best ideas.

“We’ve put in place a process that enables ideas to be brought forward and for those ideas and the intellectual property to be protected, it enables the State Government to assess them through a very robust process.

“The intellectual property needs to be protected and until we’ve worked through that process and we’re at a point where we’ve determined that it meets the very strict standards that we set there is no point in releasing that information.”

Mr Gutwein said the EOI process was better than not having a process at all, as was previously the case with unsolicited proposals for public land.