Mr. Johnston questions the Minister for Energy regarding briefings and transparency concerning the Muja AB refurbishment project. The Minister acknowledges receiving advice from various sources and making decisions based on it, but doesn't directly answer the specific questions.

AnsweredQoN 424Legislative Assembly
Asked
14 August 2013
Portfolio
Energy

QuestionView source ↗

MUJA AB — REFURBISHMENT
424. Mr W.J. JOHNSTON to the
Minister for Energy:
I refer to the Minister for Energy's comments in the
house on 19 June 2013 in respect of the Muja AB refurbishment.
(1) Can the
minister confirm that he and the Treasurer were briefed by the consultants who
conducted the independent review of the Muja AB refurbishment prior to 2 May
2013?
(2) Can the
minister confirm that this advice was critical of the initial establishment and
governance of the Muja AB refurbishment?
(3) Can the
minister confirm that this criticism was also provided to him by the Public
Utilities Office in May 2013?
(4) Is there a
reason why the minister did not tell the house about this information during
debate on the matter of public interest of 19 June 2013, the debate on the suspension
of standing orders of 20 June 2013 or the minister's ministerial
statement to the house of 27 June 2013?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
member very much for the advice and comments.
(1)–(4)
We received a whole range of advice from the Public Utilities Office, Verve
Energy and other bodies as to the state of play of the Muja AB refurbishment
over a long period of time, including Treasury's assessment, and we
made decisions on the basis of those. We announced those in debates in this
house. Some of those included data provided some time ago, with the Vinalco
joint venture—data collected way back then. We did, without question,
come to a view that there were some problems with the joint venture. I
expressed those in the debates here, quite clearly. That is why we put a stop
to the development and asked for an independent review, which is underway right
now. We committed to release that review when it is completed, and at or around
that time we will make a decision whether to go ahead and complete the two
generating units.
The SPEAKER : Supplementary.

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