When Andrew Barr released some details on his administration's long awaited changes to the Land Development Agency on Wednesday a number of surprising omissions meant the public was left with more questions than answers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Chief Minister was surprisingly coy about what metrics, if any, would be put in place as a result of the widely recognised shortcomings of the LDA's operations in recent years, to determine if the changes were successful or not.
He also, apart from repeating the earlier pledge to split the giant bureaucracy into two structures, one of which would be responsible for city renewal and land sales and development in its precinct, and the other which would look after suburban land sales and development, provided very little detail on what will actually be done.
Despite the fact that this reform has now been on the stove for months we have been given no idea of what the new agencies will cost, what will be the format of the two new boards that will oversee them, how many staff they will have, how much independence from government they will have and who they will report to.
These details are significant in that while the new agencies are to be responsible to boards it still appears as if, like the old LDA, they will be at the beck and call of the government of the day. There is still no clear separation of powers between the politicians and the public servants on what remains one of the most significant areas of activity for the ACT Government.
Another strange omission was any clear acknowledgment by Mr Barr that the LDA had failed in its tasks in the past even though an acceptance of these shortcomings appears to be implicit in the decision to split the land leviathan into two separate beasts.
It does not appear as if any serious effort has been made to inquire into what went wrong and whether or not any individuals should be held accountable for the issues highlighted in the report handed down by Auditor-General, Maxine Cooper, last September.
That report highlighted questionable payments to a consulting firm, the "manipulation" of a document released under FOI and a lack of transparency around land purchases made by the LDA.
It would appear, given nobody is offering to fall on their sword, that deals involving millions in taxpayers money are to be allowed to become a part of history despite questions about how they were done.
At this stage it is impossible to say whether or not the ACT Government is genuinely committed to sincere reform or if it is just splashing some cash and shuffling the deck chairs in a bid to persuade Territory taxpayers something meaningful has been done.
Only time will tell.
