Vic: Miners quits ticketing authority

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2008
Vic: Miners quits ticketing authority

By Kate Lahey

MELBOURNE, April 1 AAP - The Victorian bureaucrat in charge of the state's problem-plagued
new transport ticketing system has walked away from his $540,000-a-year job without explanation.

The Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) announced today its chief executive, Vivian
Miners, had terminated his contract "by mutual consent" - one day before he is due to
give evidence to a parliamentary committee on the ticketing tender.

The state government established the TTA in 2003 to implement a new $1 billion smartcard
system for public transport, known as myki (pronounced my key).

Under Mr Miners, the ticketing system was due to start operating a year ago, but is
now running at least three years late.

The tendering process has created probity concerns, and Mr Miners himself faced conflict
of interest issues for holding shares in a company that was part of each of the two shortlisted
consortia.

In a statement released today, the body's chairman, Professor Michael Pryles said the
decision was effective immediately and Mr Miners had agreed to remain available to assist
the authority on technical matters if requested.

But opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder demanded a better explanation.

"He is Victoria's highest paid public servant," Mr Mulder said.

"I just don't think a bland statement of `departure by mutual agreement' is satisfactory
because he's been on the taxpayers' purse for such a long period of time.

"My grave concern is that this project's taking water at a rate of knots, it's sinking."

The latest TTA annual report shows Mr Miners was paid at least $540,000 last financial year.

However, the report also says the amount includes conditional payment of performance
incentives for the three previous years, which were held by TTA as part of its key persons
retention strategy.

"These payments are subject to full repayment in the event of early termination of
employment contracts," the report says.

Mr Miners is due to give evidence tomorrow before the Public Accounts and Estimates
Committee about the ticketing tender.

Last October, Victorian Auditor-General Des Pearson tabled a report on the tender which
discussed the conflict of interest involving Mr Miners, who held about $1,700 worth of
shares in consultancy company Headstrong.

The report said Mr Miners formally declared his shares and tried unsuccessfully to
get rid of them.

Later, in December, a leak exposed hundreds of draft documents by the auditor-general's
investigators claiming the contract bid was riddled with conflicts of interest.

The documents alleged the winning tenderer, Boston-based information technology firm
Keane, had inside information on the contract.

Keane won the tender as leader of the Kamco consortium - Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium.

The documents also claimed the TTA backdated a document to eliminate a rival tenderer.

The findings were not included in the auditor-general's final report.

However, Mr Pearson stood by his report, saying backdating the document was acceptable
and the other matters had not been substantiated.

The audit found no evidence of corruption and no evidence that the conflicts of interest
led to biased treatment of particular tenderers.

Myki is expected to cost about $1 billion, including $494 million in start-up expenses,
plus operating costs.

The government has attributed the project's delay to software glitches.

Howard Woodall has been appointed to the authority's new role of chief operating officer.

AAP kl/pmu/af/cdh

KEYWORD: SMARTCARD NIGHTLEAD

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