Murphy labels Nalder's actions 'not reasonable'

The auditor general says former transport minister Dean Nalder’s decision to withhold information from parliament about his proposed Max Light Rail project was unreasonable, as the details were already in the public domain.

Colin Murphy said in a statement today that Mr Nalder had chosen not to provide a written ministerial directive to engage Chronos Advisory to carry out a review into the viability of the Max project, as well as Department of Transport advice to the minister about its procedures for procuring Chronos’s services.

Mr Murphy said it had been recommended that Mr Nalder provide the information and draft a response to the Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations.

“The minister did not follow this recommendation and instead informed the committee that the information related to a cabinet submission and providing it would reveal cabinet deliberations,” the auditor general said.

“In my opinion this decision is not reasonable, and therefore not appropriate, as the information was already publicly available.”

The DoT didn’t provide a reasoning for Mr Nalder’s decision.