Page 2742 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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We have clear priorities for Canberra. We continue to support and invest in health, in education and in better transport. Those are our objectives, those are our commitments, and we are committed to delivering on them in a prudent and responsible way. The feedback from the industry briefing yesterday was very strong and positive. We look forward to the expression of interest process and we look forward to those consortiums coming together and to their further engagement in this process.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Minister, could you please tell us more about why the government will be releasing the business case?
MR CORBELL: It is very important that the government releases as much detail as possible about the project and the government remains committed to doing that in a responsible and prudent way. As I said in question time earlier today, it is unusual for a state or territory government to release a very large amount of detail from the business case, but that is our commitment. That is our commitment to being open and transparent about the analysis behind this very important project for our city. And it stands in marked contrast to the approach adopted by Liberal governments around the country who continue to refuse to release any substantive detail in relation to business cases for their infrastructure projects.
The government is taking a short period before releasing the final business case to obtain final, external advice on managing the procurement process to make sure we deliver value for money through that procurement process. But we are going well beyond the approach adopted by other state jurisdictions or, indeed, well beyond the approach suggested even in the bipartisan recommendations of the estimates committee.
The government have a very detailed process in front of us. We remain committed to releasing that information and we have said we will do so on 31 October this year.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Minister, what is the annual ongoing liability that taxpayers will take on for the cost of finance and the cost of running the trains?
MR CORBELL: The point to be made first of all in relation to these matters is that through a PPP process the government makes an annual payment over the concession term. It is not broken up in the way Mr Coe suggests; it is an annual payment for both the capital delivery and the operational costs of the infrastructure. The government is not going to compromise the competitive tendering process by outlining those details. We are interested, absolutely interested, and committed to achieving value for taxpayers, value for the Canberra community, and we are not going to disclose our assessment of those liability payments ahead of the competitive process. That would not be a sensible or prudent approach.
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