New Premier, Same Secrecy — Ben Carroll Was in the Room on Labor's Secret Water Privatisation Plan
Family First's Jane Foreman says The Australian's revelations (5 August) confirm nothing has changed with Victoria's change of leader, after cabinet documents show new Premier Ben Carroll pushed to keep exploring the privatisation of Melbourne's water assets while his own government kept the five-year plan secret from voters.
Ms Foreman says The Australian's cabinet documents reveal Labor has spent five years secretly examining the privatisation of Melbourne Water under a project codenamed "Project Nerva", with then-premier Jacinta Allan and senior ministers approving a 12-month business case in 2024 to bring private investors into water infrastructure worth almost $18 billion. Family First says the documents confirm what many suspected all along: Labor has been looking at selling off Victoria's water assets to plug a hole in the budget, and only got caught because journalists, not the government, brought it into the light.
"Victorians were told this was a change of leadership, but it turns out it's the same government, the same secrecy and the same plan to sell off what belongs to the public," said Mrs Foreman. "Ben Carroll didn't discover this water privatisation push when he became Premier last week — he was in the cabinet room backing it as Deputy Premier while his own colleagues were raising the alarm."
Family First notes that when the business case landed in cabinet in February 2025, water minister Gayle Tierney opposed the plan and Ms Allan backed her, yet then-treasurer Jaclyn Symes and then-deputy premier Ben Carroll pushed to keep the work going. Consultants EY were brought back in this year to examine options for privatising wastewater services, and it was only last week's reshuffle — not a change of policy — that moved the file to new Treasurer Colin Brooks and new Water Minister Michaela Settle, with Mr Carroll now running the government that has spent years quietly working on it.
The cabinet documents show ministers were repeatedly warned of a "reputational risk" if the plan became public, aware that Victorians regard water infrastructure as a public asset, at the same time as England's privatised water industry has become an international cautionary tale of sewage pollution, deteriorating pipes, ballooning debt and soaring bills. Family First says a government that needs $6.15 million and secret KPMG and Clayton Utz advice just to work out how to sell the idea to the public has already told Victorians everything they need to know about whether it trusts them with the truth.
"A change of premier was supposed to be a fresh start, but on water privatisation Ben Carroll is the same as the old boss, because he was one of the ministers pushing this along the whole time," said Mrs Foreman. "When a government spends five years hiding a plan like this from the people who'll actually pay for it, you don't need a new premier, you need someone in Parliament asking the questions Labor won't ask itself. That is exactly the checks and balances Family First will provide in the Legislative Council."
Family First is calling on Mr Carroll to rule out privatising any part of Melbourne Water and to release all cabinet documents relating to Project Nerva in full, rather than let another confidential business case be quietly revived once the news cycle moves on. Family First says today's revelations are exactly why Victoria needs more than a rotating cast of Labor ministers marking their own homework — it needs Family First in the Legislative Council after November, holding government to account on decisions taken behind closed doors.
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