It's official! This Government doesn't 'do' business cases - either doesn't understand their importance or simply doesn't care about the continuing consequences of its actions.
The WA Auditor General has found that the Department of Regional Development, which manages the Royalties for Regions program, "didn't have stringent project selection criteria and did not know if funded projects would achieve long-term benefits".
This doesn't necessarily mean, as Opposition Leader Mark McGowan has claimed, that "at times taxpayers' money has been spent on projects that did not provide long-term benefits to regional communities".
It does mean, however, that the Barnett government has been irresponsible and negligent in not wanting to know whether RfR projects do provide long-term benefits to regional communities - as distinct from short-term political benefits to the government.
It isn't just local government forced amalgamations that this government has embarked on without an understanding of costs and benefits.
That doesn't make it any better for affected local communities - it makes it worse for all WA taxpayers.
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