Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the 9th report for 2008 of the committee relating to referrals made from June to September 2008.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—This report covers four referrals made to the committee from June to September 2008: the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder—ASKAP—radio telescope to be built in Western Australia at an estimated cost of $111 million; the fit-out for the Australian Federal Police of the Edmund Barton Building in the ACT at an estimated cost of $115 million; the redevelopment of the Puckapunyal base in Victoria at an estimated cost of $41.65 million; and the Australian War Memorial eastern precinct development and national service memorial also in Canberra at an estimated cost of $19.54 million.

The committee has recommended that all four projects proceed, without qualifications. The only additional recommendation the committee has made is in relation to the ASKAP project in Western Australia. The committee supports this project and believes it will bring significant benefits to the field of radioastronomy and to Western Australia. However, the committee had concerns that there were some delays in land acquisition and, to mitigate the risk to the Commonwealth, has recommended that land negotiations be completed prior to construction contracts being let.

The new Australian Federal Police headquarters is long overdue. The committee is pleased to recommend that the fit-out of the Edmund Barton Building proceed. The committee was assured that this heritage listed building will meet the AFP’s current and future needs as well as providing a childcare centre and a cafe, completing the original architectural vision for the building.

The redevelopment of the Puckapunyal base in Victoria will provide much needed upgrades to office and training facilities. In the past nine months this committee visited a number of defence bases. The site inspection of Puckapunyal base left it without a doubt that the proposed upgrades are badly needed.

The committee has recommended that the Australian War Memorial eastern precinct development and the national service memorial proceed. Members who have recently visited the War Memorial will be aware that the dirt car park in the eastern precinct is an eyesore that detracts from this important national monument. This development will place parking underground and behind the memorial, restoring a eucalypt garden in the eastern precinct that will be linked to a new, more accessible cafe.

This proposal also includes siting for the national service memorial to commemorate those who were called up and served in the forces between 1951 and 1972. The planned memorial is a testament to those who served and is a fitting addition to this region of the memorial. The memorial is being paid for with moneys raised by the National Servicemen’s Association.

I thank the members and senators on the committee for their work on these inquiries. As this is the final Public Works Committee report for 2008, I also thank the committee for all of their work during the year, particularly their commitment to clearing the books of the backlog of work held over from the 41st Parliament. The committee has undertaken 21 inquiries this year and has approached each one in a spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship that shows parliamentary committees at their best. I commend this report to the House.