Page 3771 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 2011
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marginally affect vacancy rates, whether the building is owned by the government or leased from the private sector.
The commonwealth government is the major occupier of leased office accommodation in Canberra, occupying over 50 per cent of the market. So the greatest threat to office vacancy rates in the city is the likely circumstance that a federal Liberal government will sack 12,000 Canberrans from the public service.
Next in the motion the opposition allege a failure to appropriately consult with the private sector and the community. The Gungahlin community—
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, members. Mr Barr has the floor.
MR BARR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Gungahlin community and business owners seem pretty comfortable with our plans to commission an office block there. Additionally, all of our consultants engaged in this project are from the private sector. They are the likes of Cox Architects, who worked on the KPMG tower in Sydney and 370 Docklands Drive in Melbourne; Arup, who provided sustainability advice for the Nishi development and the water cube in Beijing; CBRE, well known to all of those in this place; Fife Capital, who provided funding and ownership advice and have worked on the Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust and consulted for Behringer Harvard; Wilde and Wollard, who provided cost planning and who have worked on projects such as the RMIT Swanston academic building and Centrelink in Tuggeranong; and DEGW/WorkSpaceLogic, who have consulted for the ANZ Bank, the National Australia Bank and for BHP.
The government’s workforce also has been widely consulted on the project. A staff survey and workshops have been conducted, and the outcomes have shaped the statement of requirements for the project. A market sounding brief was also issued to the private sector seeking input into financial, ownership and delivery models.
The government remains of an open mind as to how to deliver the best outcome for taxpayers, staff and the environment. And we have also invited the property sector to be part of a market test for the project. So scant has been the community consultation that the Master Builders Association said:
In particular, much optimism had been generated by the ACT budget proposal to develop a new … office block to assist in integrating various elements of the ACT Public Service.
So woeful has been our consultation that the Canberra Business Council said:
There are some very clear advantages to establishing an office that can bring together our public servants under one roof.
In particular, it will help improve efficiency and reduce duplication—both aims of the recent Hawke Review and changes to the ACT public sector.
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