Spare us the cone of silence, Premier

AS you might imagine, with just 10 weeks to go to the state election, the local Labor pollies were keen to be pictured with their leader at Carbon Revolution yesterday.

It is certainly great news that our local success story is getting set to step up into industrial-scale production and we welcome the jobs that will ultimately come with its $100 million expansion.

But detail was in short supply when Premier Daniel Andrews was quizzed about how much the taxpayers will tip into our pioneering wheelmaker.

The market is, he insisted, too competitive to release such detail.

“If we start signalling to all of those interstate competitors and indeed others who compete for these sorts of investments around the region then that would not be a good outcome for Victorian taxpayers,” Mr Andrews argued.

Hmmm. Given the closeness of the election, it is ultra-convenient to superglue yourself to a major announcement without any detail for the taxpayers to judge whether this is an appropriate spend or not.

By all accounts, Carbon Revolution is doing quite nicely in the export market and the world appears its financial oyster. Why it needs a secret kick along at this stage is probably a fair question.

Even more curious is the simultaneous announcement of a Made in Victoria campaign. Again the Government, through Industry Minister Ben Carroll, was keeping the tab to itself.

Mr Carroll has twice been in Geelong this week to highlight the growth in manufacturing, with the Australian Industry Group’s Performance of Manufacturing Index showing 17 months of consecutive growth in this state.

But to release a Made in Victorian campaign this close to the election raises eyebrows.

What is real and what is electioneering here? The Government should tell us all how much it is paying for this campaign and how much it is gifting what appears a very successful business.