Opinion
The decision by the Minister for Regional Development, the Hon Alannah MacTiernan MLC, not to provide Parliament with the business case for the agricultural lime sand (AgLime) Routes project was reasonable and therefore appropriate. The Minister made all practical efforts to obtain the information from the previous Government, but access was not given.
Background
In a question prior to the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee 2018-19 Budget Estimates hearings, the Hon Martin Aldridge MLC asked:
(1) I refer to page 225 Budget paper 3, line item ‘AgLime Routes’ and the allocation of $10m in the forward estimates and I ask:
- Would the Minister provide the business case for this project?
On 7 June 2018, the Minister replied:
This project was approved by Cabinet under the previous government and consistent with the practice of the previous government the business case is considered Cabinet-in-confidence.
I am advised that we are delivering the project in line with the intent of the original Cabinet decision.
On 7 September 2018, the Minister notified the Auditor General that she was unable to provide the requested information, in accordance with section 82 of the FM Act.
Key findings
The Minister’s decision not to provide the requested information was reasonable and therefore appropriate.
The Minister properly sought advice from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (the Department) before responding to the request. The Department advised the Minister that a Cabinet of the previous government approved the project, and the business case is considered Cabinet-in-confidence.
We confirmed that 2 business cases in relation to the AgLime Routes project were submitted to the Cabinet of the previous Government. The business cases are not publicly available.
The Minister requested access to the business case through the Leader of the Opposition. This was declined. The Minister’s efforts to obtain the information were consistent with section 6.2 (b) of the Cabinet Handbook, which states:
Under long standing convention it is understood that Cabinet documents are considered confidential to the government that created them. Where ongoing administration requires access to the Cabinet documents of a previous government, it is generally subject to the consent of the current leader of the party that created the records whilst in office.
In our view, the Minister’s efforts to obtain the requested information were reasonable and the decision to uphold the convention laid out in the Cabinet Handbook was appropriate.