Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Australian PPP Projects

While PPPs offer significant benefits to infrastructure delivery, a lack of transparency has been an ongoing concern among Australian communities and stakeholders. This is particularly important to address given the increasing scale and complexity of projects being delivered through PPP models.

Past Issues with Lack of Openness

In Victoria, a lack of disclosure around the desalination plant and EastLink tollroad PPP negotiations in the early 2000s drew widespread criticism. Key documents were not made publicly available, leading to questions around whether value for money was truly achieved.

Similar issues arose in NSW with early PPPs like the Cross City and Lane Cove tunnels. Communities felt excluded from discussions around traffic modelling, environmental approvals and financial Arrangements. This eroded trust that public interests were being properly considered.

Also, with the Victorian desalination plant, the isolation of its coastal location raised worries about impacts on fragile coastal ecosystems during construction. However, community groups found it difficult to engage with the project consortium and provide meaningful input into design aspects like pipeline routes and site rehabilitation plans without access to key documents.

Positive Australian Initiatives

Infrastructure Australia plays an important role providing independent evaluation of major projects nationally. By publishing assessment reports, governments and the public can have visibility into the rationale for PPP delivery recommendations over other models.

At the state level, Queensland's Building Queensland provides early planning advice and assurance reviews with public disclosure. For the Gold Coast Light Rail PPP, it helped ensure the project achieved key reliability, cost and patronage targets through to completion.

Successful Project Engagement Examples

The WestConnex project in Sydney engaged stakeholders through the Community Consultative Committee platform. Regular meetings provided timely responses to over 1,000 enquiries annually around construction impacts, local business support and urban design.

Consultation was also a priority for the Midland Highway PPP upgrade in Victoria. Project newsletters, doorknocks, and pop-up information sessions helped address over 7,500 enquiriesfrom locals during the construction period.

Recommendations Moving Forward

To further strengthen transparency practices in Australian PPPs, governments could consider legislating performance reporting, independent market testing, and community advisory panels through project development and delivery.

Greater disclosure of contract details like risk allocation principles and dispute resolution processes would also reassure the public on long-term accountability.

With proactive measures, PPPs can maintain the high levels of openness that Australian communities rightly expect from major infrastructure development.

Implementing measures to strengthen transparency, oversight and public participation will be pivotal for the long-term success and community acceptance of PPP infrastructure delivery in Australia. Small, specialised consultancies, like WPC Consulting, have an important role to play through tailored recommendations, reviews and engagement facilitation. By addressing the issues that have arisen in previous projects, governments and consortia can build greater trust that PPP procurement is in the broader public interest, not just commercial priorities.

Where communities feel included and well-informed from project start to finish, there will be higher tolerance of construction impacts and confidence in ongoing performance. With collaborative efforts between public and private project teams and advisory consultants, the next generation of PPPs in Australia can achieve best-practice standards for accountability to both taxpayers and users of essential services and facilities for decades to come.