Werribee MP Tim Pallas has said the government would release the business case – but stopped short of saying when – amid increasing calls for the reasoning behind the state’s decision to build a youth detention centre in Werribee South.
The treasurer was taken to task for the third day running during question time, with Malvern MP Michael O’Brien calling on the government to release the business case in light of yesterday’s bungle where Mr Pallas stated Werribee South was not among the initial sites considered for the $288 million facility.
He retracted his comments later in the day.
Mr O’Brien’s call follows that of Wyndham council and Lalor MP Joanne Ryan to make the business case public, while the Committee for Wyndham has also come out today calling for its release.
“Treasurer, you won’t release the details about the Werribee jail, you change your story from day to day about what you did and didn’t know, you refused to face your constituents at the recent community rally – how can Wyndham residents have any faith that as treasurer, you’re telling them the truth?”, Mr O’Brien said.
In response, Mr Pallas said the government was “committed to a genuine process of engagement with the people of the Werribee community”.
“We will produce such material as is appropriate in order to properly engage the community around the decisions that the government has made with regard to the preferred location,” he said.
“Am I a fan, a supporter of the work that the premier and his government are doing for the western suburbs? Unashamedly, I am… because this government has integrity and diligence.”
The premier was not exempt from the line of questioning, with opposition leader Matthew Guy calling on Daniel Andrews to admit that Werribee South was the wrong location for the new youth jail.
Mr Andrews responded: “This is a preferred location. The council… has indicated that they believe there are other, more suitable sites.
“The government is working with them – that’s what people would expect, and that’s what the government is doing.”
He refused to definitively answer, yes or no, if there was any chance that the youth prison would be moved from Wyndham.
