Page 340 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 February 2010
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record and it represents in that total period $968.2 million of capital infrastructure that was not delivered on time.
The first example I use is one of the more recent examples that we have—that is, the Cotter Dam. I believe that Mrs Dunne, if she gets time, will add further to this, but I think all the members here would be aware of the massive cost blow-outs related to the Cotter Dam project, and it is worth looking at the issue. Between the Cotter Dam project and the proposed Googong transfer, we have seen the original price skyrocket from $160 million in 2005 as an estimate to $530 million today. So, from $120 million for a dam to $363 million, and $30 million for a pipeline to $120 million today. That is an extraordinary blow-out in costs. You also have to recall that this is a project that has experienced significant delay.
Now the impact of those cost blow-outs and the impact of the delay is not simply a change in a number here in the Assembly that we need not worry about. What we know is that, as a result of that cost blow-out, working families here in the ACT are going to be slugged with an extra water bill to pay as a consequence of this government’s mismanagement and their inability to deliver this infrastructure project on time.
Mrs Dunne: It’s not a one-off.
MR HANSON: As Mrs Dunne says quite correctly, that is not a one-off. They are going to be slugged every year with an increased bill for their water. This government think that they are helping working families, but, when we look at the evidence, what is actually happening to the household bills of those families that this government say they are there to look after, the reality is very different. They are going to be slugged because of this government’s inability to deliver that major infrastructure project on time.
I turn now to the FireLink communications project. This project cost the taxpayer $5 million. Let me have a look at the reality. It does not work; it simply does not work. This is a project that was promised by Minister Corbell, who is the minister responsible. He said in a statement on 12 December 2006 that FireLink does work. He said that it was operational at that time in the RFS and the SES. Well, what a disappointment, again, and $5 million wasted.
The same minister, Mr Corbell, was also the man responsible for the ESA headquarters. We have seen the Auditor-General release some very damning findings in relation to that in the past few months. The cost of the project, which was originally costed at $11.6 million, has risen dramatically. As of 2009—I have the latest figures—it is now $75.2 million. That is a remarkable increase. I will just state those figures again: $11 million to $75 million. That is just simply extraordinary and represents a whole range of basic services that this government will not be able to deliver to Canberra families. That is $60 million that this government has spent through its mismanagement and its failure to deliver the project on budget and on time. It is $60 million that, in effect, will now be taken out of the pockets of the average Canberran, of the working families in the suburbs that we all live in.
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