Page 4552 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
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However due to increases in the cost of labour and materials, increases in the order of 50–70 per cent were now expected. … That would make the cost of the enlargement approximately $188 million.
3.52 Following the public hearings, an article in the 30 May 2009 edition of The Canberra Times reported Mr Sullivan as saying that ‘the cost had increased by from 50 percent to 70 percent, making it now more than $200 million.’ A 50 per cent increase would take the cost to $217 million, while a 70 per cent increase would take it to $246 million.
3.53 Mr Sullivan advised that the cost of the Murrumbidgee to Googong steel pipeline had increased since costings in 2005 and 2007, largely due to a 120 per cent increase in the price of steel, labour and other inputs. The cost of transferring water from the Murrumbidgee to Googong Dam had been estimated at $70 million in 2007. The ICRC had allowed $96.5 million. … The approved budget for the Googong Dam Spillway project is $37 million. …
It goes on:
3.54 No detail or plan was provided as to how this extra cost would or could be absorbed in the Budget.
We have seen this saga play out over the last few years, and the people who have to take the most responsibility are the government: Jon Stanhope, as leader of this government, in delaying action—delaying and delaying and delaying—in apparently not oversighting, in not asking the questions about these costs. And we have seen the blow-out by $243 million and counting.
We do need to look at how Jon Stanhope responded. On the one hand, we have heard from him recently when he sticks his nose in everywhere. He goes around town. He has his special pass to get into the arboretum. He has his mayor’s badge that he flashes at the door of the arboretum. He goes in there on a Saturday to make sure that the trees are going okay, to make sure that no-one has stolen any trees. He told us:
I’m forever sticking my nose in, and I do that at the arboretum. I keep an eye on what’s going on.
I bet that makes members of the government feel very happy. But, when it comes to a major project to secure our water supply, apparently he and his government do not bother. He was able to claim in relation to it:
Though there are aspects perhaps in communication in relation to this and perhaps in their cost estimates that on reflection need a deep review.
So the blame is with someone else. The Canberra Times reported:
The ACT Government was kept in the dark about the ballooning price of the Cotter Dam expansion, much to his surprise and disappointment, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said yesterday.
Let us just reflect on that. We know that Jon Stanhope likes to blame others, and we understand that; we understand that he does not want to take responsibility for what
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