Article: State paid to discredit transport criticism

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

State paid to discredit transport criticism

State paid to discredit transport criticism
CLAY LUCAS
April 27, 2010

A PRIVATE consultant was paid thousands of dollars by Victoria's Department of Transport to devise a strategy to discredit one of the state's most vocal transport critics.

Invoices obtained by the state opposition show that accountant Paul Zabakly charged the Government $5500 for his work helping Department of Transport bureaucrats discredit RMIT academic Paul Mees.

The payments were among a total of $2.6 million paid to Mr Zabakly over eight years, much of it for assessing finances on Melbourne's privatised train and tram systems. The invoices, obtained under freedom of information laws, show that between March 2002 and September 2009, Mr Zabakly worked regularly for the department at between $100 and $210 an hour, on financial evaluation and modelling.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said spend-ing public money to discredit critics was not appropriate. ''[Mr Zabakly] was paid to analyse criticism of Labor's abysmal record on public transport,'' he said.

In 2006 Mr Zabakly was paid $3960 for three days' work, to analyse a report that Dr Mees had co-written.

The report argued that privatising train and tram operation in Victoria had cost the state $1.2 billion more than if it had remained in public hands.

Soon after Mr Zabakly's analysis was completed, then transport minister Peter Batchelor attacked the report publicly.

In September 2009, Mr Zabakly was paid $1500 for a day analysing another report by Dr Mees.

The department later used this work in its attempt to discredit the report publicly.

Dr Mees moved to RMIT in 2008, after his previous employer, Melbourne University, threatened him with demotion following a Department of Transport complaint.

Tonight Dr Mees will launch his new book on transport policy, Transport for Suburbia, which reserves one chapter to dissecting the impact of privatisation on public transport in Victoria.

He said spending public money on consultants to attack his work was ridiculous.

''I don't know whether to be flattered - despite employing over 1100 staff, the department wasn't capable of responding to me unaided - or disappointed that it only took them four days,'' he said.

Mr Zabakly declined to talk about his work for the department yesterday.

''That work is between me and the department,'' he said.

Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula's office did not respond last week when questioned about the spending.

[#Metro]

It would be good to see the contents of those financial and evaluation reports.
The Mees book reads well, I hope to get a copy myself!