Government backflip on speed camera locations
15th Dec 2011 - The State Government will no longer publish a weekly list of mobile speed camera locations, four months after the practice was criticised by the auditor-general.
The Government began publishing the locations online and in the Herald Sun newspaper at the start of the year, fulfilling a key election promise.
But an auditor-general's report in August found the publication was counter-productive and at odds with the road safety message.
The Herald Sun stopped its publication of camera locations shortly after the report was released and the Government has been reviewing the publication on the Department of Justice website.
The Coalition was highly critical of speed cameras while in opposition, claiming they were "revenue raisers", but accepted the auditor-general's findings that they do help to reduce the road toll.
The Police Minister, Peter Ryan, says the Government has carefully considered the auditor-general's recommendations.
"Based on findings of the review and taking into consideration the auditor-general's recommendation, the Coalition Government has decided not to continue providing a weekly list of rostered mobile road safety camera locations," he said in a statement.
Opposition spokesman James Merlino says it is an embarrassing backflip for the Government.
"There's no doubt that the Government has to accept that this was a dumb idea," he said.
"This was never supported by Victoria Police, this was never supported by Victoria's road safety partners, this was always a stupid policy found out by the auditor-general and they've finally reversed their decision."
The Premier Ted Baillieu denies the publication of camera locations was dangerous.
"The statistics suggest that there's been no adverse outcome as a consequence nor has there been any particular advantage to publicising them," he said.
"So taking the auditor-general's expressed concerns, in conjunction with his recommendation and the review that the department has undertaken, we've made the decision not to publicise those."
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