Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the third report for 2009 of the committee, relating to the proposed fit-out of new leased premises for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in Sydney, and construction of housing for Defence at Yamanto Hills, Ipswich, Queensland.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the committee’s third report for 2009 on referrals made in February and March 2009. The first project addressed in this report is the fit-out of new leased premises for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission at Market Street in Sydney. The project was referred to the committee on 5 February 2009 at an estimated cost of $30.8 million. The committee was not satisfied with the initial cost plan provided by ASIC and was forced to seek further information on a number of issues. These subsequent inclusions increased the estimated cost of the work to $35.2 million including GST.

ASIC submitted that the primary purpose of the proposed work is to collocate its 870 Sydney based staff at a single site to benefit from the resultant operational and cost efficiencies and to provide room for any future increase in staff numbers. In its examination of the project the committee found that the scope of the work, which comprised the fit-out of five floors at 100 Martin Place, would accommodate only 775 staff—insufficient to achieve ASIC’s aim of collocation. At the site inspection ASIC told the committee that it was awaiting approval for the lease on an additional floor, which would allow it to accommodate 890 staff. Approval was granted subsequent to the public hearing, incurring an additional $2.48 million in fit-out costs and bringing the total estimated project budget to $37.68 million. The committee recommends that the work proceed at this cost on the grounds that it will fulfil ASIC’s collocation requirements and provide limited capacity for future growth.

The referral for construction of housing for Defence at Yamanto Hills, Ipswich, Queensland, has been deferred indefinitely pending the resolution of noise issues related to the introduction at RAAF Base Amberley of the FA18F Super Hornet. The committee is concerned that the withdrawal was due to a lack of basic consultation by Defence Housing Australia with its primary client, the Department of Defence. The committee recommends that DHA establish internal protocols to ensure that in future all such matters are resolved prior to referral of a project. The committee will be seeking to satisfy itself on this point when the project is re-referred.

I would like to thank all the committee members, as well as the secretariat, for their work in relation to this inquiry, and commend the report to the House.