8 December 2010

Mr Stanhope finds a use for the Auditor General

| johnboy
Join the conversation
3

In the wake of the Molonglo asbestos debacle Jon Stanhope has turned to his troublesome Auditor General to find out what went wrong:

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has written to the Auditor General asking for a review of the procedures used to test for contamination at the site of a planned pond in Molonglo, after tonnes of contaminated material and old sewerage structures were missed during the testing regime.

The discovery has increased the cost of the pond, which is designed to manage storm water flows and harvest water for irrigation, in the yet-to-be-built suburbs of the Molonglo Valley.

Mr Stanhope said he hoped the Auditor General would look at the reasons for the failure to detect the nature and extent of contamination on the site, and the roles and responsibilities of government agencies, contractors and others.

“The Government is deeply concerned by the escalation of costs associated with the project and wants to know why such significant errors were made in calculating the scale of remedial work needed, why there was such a major discrepancy in the calculation of the volume of contaminated soil, and why the presence of undemolished structures from former sewerage works were not known about,”
Mr Stanhope said today.

Join the conversation

3
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

What about all the mum’s and dad’s that bought out there??? I’m sure some people have spent their life’s savings on the overpriced blocks…

How do they feel??? Write to the Government and demand a refund!

What if they find more contamination or people start developing cancer 20 years from now??

This will never go away, a similar situation happened in Victoria..

http://www.theage.com.au/national/fuming-brookland-greens-residents-plan-class-action-20080911-4ek0.html

Everyone who bought should have the choice to hand their blocks back without any loss to them…

It’s not the homebuyers fault, how could they make all these mistakes? There is no excuse for this.

That’s the short list.

Possibly there is a culture in the ACT public service, the assembly and those contracting to them of not taking responsibility for anything.

Looking back a bit, the 2003 firestorm, no one was disciplined in spite of discraceful failures, emergency services and the minister responsible (JS) did a dreadful job with tragic consequences. What sanctions?

The (human rights friendly) corrective services left a woman psychologist at risk of self harm unsupervised in a corrective services van and she hung herself. What sanctions?

The CEO of the government owned Rhodium did spectacular ripoffs, What sanctions?

JS himself reckons Action are wasting $30 M. or there abouts p.a. What sanctions?

Our legal system is letting repeat chase offenders out on bail and lives are being lost, What sanctions?

Those who put up press releases and cant spell, What sanctions?

Transport ministers in the JS cabinet who drive home from budget night parties pissed and get caught, What sanctions?

If JS wont take responsibility for his actions and wont require any public servants to take responsibility for there’s why should those who missed the 100,000 tons of contaminated waste be held to account?

Back to the Qantas Club Jon, another overseas marketing mission will relieve the stress and you know the ACT electorate wont hold you, or anyone to account.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.