This article investigates the financial troubles of the Royal Children’s Hospital, a project that was developed through a public-private partnership under the guise that no public funding would be used. In January 2014 however, it was revealed that a government owned investment-company the Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) was the primary financial backer of the project. The bonds that VFMC bought to finance the project are no under pressure as Standard and Poor’s recently downgraded their credit to junk status because it found the rent being charged to be unsustainable. VFMC is responsible for investing $41 billion on behalf of government bodies including the super fund for paramedics and police and the Transport Accident Commission among others and any substantial loss could impact these agencies’ bottom lines. Article goes on to provide more financial details and history of the project, including how one of the main project managers sold its stake and never paid its promised $35 million donation to the hospital.
