Page 1046 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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more effectively and more efficiently for all—for the government and for the community. Having another unit might not be the best way to do that.
Recommendations 6 and 7 look at replacement of IT and suggest that the government make sure that things are adequately scoped and are carried out in a timely manner. Recommendation 8 states:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government ensure that capital works projects are properly scoped and take into account long term future requirements.
In particular, again, this is in reference to the Alexander Maconochie Centre. I had wanted to include a fuller transcript there, but the committee decided not to; such is the case. Ms Lawder and I concluded that the reason that the government have had to come back so quickly to increase the size of the Alexander Maconochie Centre is that they clearly did not get it right in the first place. So it is appropriate that we get it right in the first place.
Recommendations 10, 11, 12 and 13 all refer to the capital metro project. There are two studies; one has just been finished—the Hibberson Street study—which we believe should be public. The network integration study is yet to be completed but the committee also believes that it should be public.
In recommendations 12 and 13 the committee questions whether a net present value exercise had been carried out in relation to the decision to proceed with capital metro. It would be interesting to know. Recommendation 13 reads:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government consider tabling in the Legislative Assembly all financial analysis work that has been done to date concerning the Capital Metro Project.
This is about openness and accountability. If your case is good, it will stand up to scrutiny. If you are hiding these documents, one has to ask why.
When we looked at the Treasurer in his capacity as the minister with responsibility for community services, we noted that there has been a dramatic spike in the call for concessions. The committee felt it was important that we do some analysis of what is driving that. I believe it is a recommendation that has appeared in estimates reports before. It is important, instead of just saying, “We’ll just keep increasing the limit of funding that we have so that we can accommodate people,” that we find out what is causing it and address the underlying causes.
Recommendations 15 and 16 are about the delivery of capital works. This was in regard to the land release program. A large number of rollovers have already occurred or reprofiling. In recommendation 15 the committee is saying, “Let’s make sure that, if there’s a delay in infrastructure works, that, for instance, the land release program isn’t delayed.” Recommendation 16 is saying that if something is beyond our control—sometimes it might be weather, and we take that into account—and if we know something is being considered, for instance, under the commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, we have to adequately
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