Why am I not surprised? We have seen this crap regularly since at least 1985. There are any number of “deals” doing the rounds all the time and the only protection is very extensive due diligence.’’
Professor Hamilton said property developments, tourism projects and retirement homes were among projects across Australia that had attracted investment from questionable sources, which typically came under the threshold for scrutiny by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
"And yet once some money is dangled in front of local councils, they tend to forget their obligation to due diligence and grab it, and that seems to be the case with the pilot training school," he said.
To secure federal funding for the ILS, the Mildura council contributed $1 million of ratepayers' money, as did the council-owned Mildura Airport Pty Ltd.
'We could have looked deeper'
Cr Modica said councillors received "a lot of information" about the flight academy when it was proposed.
He said the business case "suggested that the pilot school was a good idea", but that "on reflection, could've been looked into a lot more".
"I would hope that Mildura Rural City Council and Mildura Airport would go through a very rigorous scenario looking at who owns the pilot school, how it's funded, and making sure it is a secure organisation," he said.
Professor Hamilton acknowledged it was difficult for local councils which lacked resources or the "knowledge of where to go and look" to investigate sources of investment.
"But because local councils in regional areas tend to be cash-strapped and tend to be grateful for any kind of investment that comes into regional areas, they tend to not want to know about any downsides," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-...loans/12032616