Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

The budget finally delivers a funding blueprint for the centenary of Anzac. Whilst it is a long time coming, the government response to one particular initiative is of deep and growing concern. On 18 April the Prime Minister announced $6.5 million for the construction of the Anzac Interpretive Centre to ensure the new centre was up and running by November 2014. The Anzac centre is fully supported by the coalition and, I gather, by the government.

We are concerned the City of Albany has major reservations about the construction of the centre. In its council meeting of 15 May this year it passed a resolution calling for funding security. The council's minutes state that presently the cost estimates for the planning, design and construction of the centre, based on the scoping advice of consultants, is potentially $9 million plus. To date the only confirmed funding for the project is $6.55 million, leaving $5.8 million for construction. A quantity surveyor has estimated the cost of construction at $8 million. The council advises that the construction of this building, from a project management perspective, is a risk. The government funding appears to be $2 million short of what is needed for the Prime Minister's 18 April 2012 commitment to be sustained. We also learned on Tuesday night that the scoping study into the project is yet to be completed and the government's final commitment is based on an old estimate of construction costs. Minister, can you give the community of Albany any commitment that the city will not be left saddled with the cost of completing the Anzac Interpretive Centre?

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