Page 301 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 20 February 1990
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In developed countries throughout the world governments have been shocked at the price they have had to pay for asbestos removal. There is no cheap and safe solution. Where short cuts have been taken, it has usually been necessary to do the job again at even further expense. This Government has no intention of paying twice. Our Government has made a decision which I believe will put the asbestos removal program firmly back on the track and achieve our four-year objective. Most importantly, it will relieve the anguish of those unfortunate Canberra citizens who have asbestos in their homes.
Subject to finalising some contract details, we have decided to let a contract for 750 homes based on a proposal submitted by Gardner Perrott, a division of Brambles Holdings, a well-known major company in Australia. The company offered the lowest price for multiple contracts as a result of last year's public tender action and it has maintained the validity of its tender offer. When finalised this contract will be worth approximately $43.8m. It represents an average house price in the order of $58,000. Advice from Australian Construction Services and engineering consultants, Scott and Furphy, confirms that at that price and with the current specifications we are getting real value for money. Under this contract Gardner Perrott would have up to 23 removal teams operating simultaneously within Canberra. Together with the existing 100-house contract that has been let, this means that once in top gear the program will involve up to 30 teams operating at any one time, each team averaging one house every four weeks.
Approximately 200 jobs will be created with these contracts, 200 jobs that are going to go to local workers. This is especially important at this time when unemployment is at such a high rate in the ACT. We would expect Gardner Perrott to commence removal operations in April and to be in full operation by the end of June 1990. The existing 100-house contract commenced earlier this month.
While there remain details to be worked out in order to get the removal program into full swing, my department can now turn its attention to a number of important outstanding issues in the asbestos removal program. Without question, the most prominent issue is the need to determine arrangements for cleaning approximately 46 houses which have previously been cleaned under private contract but which do not meet the current standard of cleanliness. These houses will not simply be slotted into the program because the work varies from house to house and it varies from houses needing total cleaning.
In reaching this decision we were aware that there have been views expressed in some quarters that these removals could be done for a lot less than $58,000 a house. These views are held, it would seem, partly because of the price of some of the individual removal contracts which have been
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