Tillegra audit threat: where’s the business case?

Commenting on the release of Volume 7 of the Auditor-General's 2009
Report to Parliament released today, Dr Kaye said: "For three years the
Rees government has failed to satisfy the Hunter community that the dam
was needed.
 
"Recently released documents show that experts within its own
Department of Water believed that Tillegra was poorly planned, that the
demand for water had been overestimated and the effects of claimed
change overstated.
 
"Now the Auditor-General has called for a business case to be produced,
with the threat of a performance audit hanging over its head.
 
"The Rees government will struggle to justify a project that was born
of political convenience. The government’s most experienced water
experts are close to open revolt against a project that offends their
professionalism.
 
"No amount of spin will disguise the awful truth that Tillegra is
unnecessary and will hang an economic millstone around the necks of
Hunter residents for a generation to come.
 
"In September 2006, the NSW government, desperate for a project
announcement to distract attention form its political troubles in the
lead up to the election, plucked Tillegra from obscurity.
 
"Hunter Water performed a champion back flip from their 2006 Integrated
Water Resource Plan which rated Tillegra as the second least desirable
project. Within months it had miraculously become the 'must have' water
supply option.
 
"Three years later the Auditor-General is calling their bluff.
 
"The Rees government should now admit the truth before it faces the
embarrassment of a performance audit that will expose the grubby story
of Tillegra," Dr Kaye said.
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455