Page 2430 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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Clearly, we will be divesting ourselves of some of our office assets and looking to move to new accommodation. That is part of the light rail project.
Quite clearly light rail is a driver.
My motion is pretty clear. Let us stop this nonsense. Let us stop the return of the death star for the people of the ACT and have a proper look across Canberra at the market and an appropriate accommodation strategy. (Time expired.)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Housing and Minister for Tourism and Events) (11.00): The government will not be supporting Mr Hanson’s motion this morning. He has just shown a complete misunderstanding of the issues that are before the territory.
Quite simply, the government is seeking to make better use of taxpayer dollars. The ACT public service is currently being accommodated and paying rent in a range of buildings, most of which are at the end of their useful life and are sub-optimal. The registration of interest project that we put forward is for new accommodation. It simply replaces the existing rent we are paying with new rent. The project aims to streamline government activities, and is the most economical of all of the options available to us to accommodate our workforce. The savings that can be made over the longer term can then be channelled into key government services.
For the benefit of Mr Hanson and those opposite, I will give some further detail of the government’s office accommodation strategy and the benefits of our approach.
Firstly, as appears to have escaped Mr Hanson, the government is undertaking a whole-of-government accommodation strategy. This strategy has demonstrated that there is an underlying requirement for a CBD office block due to the ageing of our own stock, the high ongoing costs associated with leasing low-grade buildings, the need to provide healthy environments for our existing staff, and a desire to be able to attract and retain staff within the ACT public service. A review of the ACT government’s property portfolio has revealed that almost all of the existing stock, both owned and leased, fails to achieve the government’s accommodation requirements or standards.
The government has adopted a hub and satellite approach to office accommodation. For the benefit of those opposite, who might care to listen at this point, let me repeat: the government has adopted a hub and satellite approach. The hub is located in Civic, but, let me be very clear, it is not intended that it will accommodate the entire ACT government workforce. We have 20,000 staff or thereabouts. What is proposed for Civic is for around 3,400 of them to be located within new accommodation. The hub does allow for the co-location of a range of administrative and policy functions, and does provide for operational benefits over the long term to reduce costs associated with churn or changes in administrative arrangements.
The satellite buildings, which will accommodate a range of functions, are located in locations around the city, such as Gungahlin, Belconnen, Dickson and the Woden-
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