(crosspost from this.)
As outlined here (2008-05-28), the Inquiry into Melbourne’s Future Water Supply, which was sent the the ENRC by the Legislative Council on 2007-09-19 has FINALLY let people know where they can send submissions (Details over the fold).
Obviously, all those folk protesting about the DeSal and pipeline plans (?secret memoranda of understandings about contracts?), and those worried about water (rural or metropolitan, they are linked), should think seriously about putting in a submission even if it’s "Please do not proceed with the desalination plants and goulburn valley pipeline" should get of their backsides.
Before the details on how to submit, however, let’s just think about the following dates:
- Referred by the Legislative Committee: 2007-09-19
- Open for submissions: 2008-07-22
- Submissions close: 2008-08-29
- Report due: 2008-12-31 (at the latest, and while everybody is on holiday)
While the enrc.vic.gov.au promised (2008-05-26, Message-ID: <OFD2489B06.0CE8BC76-ONCA257454.007C55CE@parliament.vic.gov.au> if anyone at the Vic Parliament wants to verify this) to get back to me when submissions are open, do you think they’ve done it yet? It’ll be interesting (and given Joh Brumby’s attitude to governance, it’ll probably be disappointing) to see when this promise is realized and something arrives in my gmail.
But think for a moment about those date ranges…
- From referral to reporting: 469 days (100%).
- From referral to submissions open: 307 days (65%)
- Open for submission: 38 days (8%)
- From close to reporting: 124 days max (35%)
- From open to reporting: 162 days (27%)
I remind you… the ENRC promised to let me know when submissions opened: they haven’t yet, probably hoping that I’d miss the opportunity.
It wouldn’t surprise me if reporting is earlier, and the Victorian ALP spin this as "a very long inquiry, and we’ve expedited the report because it is important".
Now, one of the features of typical senate inquiries is that you can read through submissions to clarify and expand your own thinking on the issue before making your own. This opportunity has been severely restricted, diminishing the quality of submissions that will (I strongly suspect) be mainly against the Vic ALP’s preferred option (apart from submissions by consortia involved in the deals with Joh Brumby).
I wonder how promptly submissions that are received will be posted on the relevant website so that others can use them to develop their own… (e.g. "what he said").
I’ll probably make a short submission, and the first comment will be to critice the various date ranges detailed above.
Making Submissions (taken from here).
The Committee invites written submissions from interested persons and organisations addressing the terms of reference. All submissions are treated as public documents unless confidentiality is requested and granted.
Please send submissions to:
Executive Officer,
Environment and Natural Resources Committee,
Parliament House,
Spring Street
East Melbourne VIC 3002
orenrc@parliament.vic.gov.au...
Further information regarding the reference may be obtained from the Committee Secretariat on (03) 8682 2803,
The Hon. John Pandazopoulos, MP,
Chair
See Also/Notes:
- "Sen John and Premier Joh - A tale of two FOIs" (2008-07-23), which compares and contrasts the efforts of Senator John Faulkner and Premier Joh Brumby as far as open government goes.
- Anything by Ken Davidson on the issues, e.g. this, which includes…
If the Victorian Government has secret agreements in place for these two projects, the difference in the cost of water for Melburnians over 25 years would be $20 billion in todays dollars." But if due process has been followed and no contracts have been signed, no damage will have been done to Victorias interests.
- "Water must come from Tasmania" - Peter Martin (2008-07-08), which links to an important Ken Davidson article.
- "A little inquiry of our own" - Jacques Chester at "The Wonkery" (2008-05-28), which asks what makes for a decent government inquiry
- "Kosky calls for comments - very quietly" (2008-05-19)
- "Joh Brumby" (2008-02-03)
- Inquiry pages at Vic parliament website:
This comment on a 2008-07-25 LP post from the guy who did the MelbourneWater.com.au hydrological study has some good excerpts from two reports: this and this It’s worth going through the entire article and comments.
