John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the committee's 82nd annual report, which examines committee activities undertaken in the 2018 calendar year.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—In summary, 2018 was another busy year for the committee. During this time, the committee of the 45th Parliament inquired into 14 projects with a combined estimated value of more than $1.5 billion, tabled five reports, examined 158 medium works proposals with a combined value of more than $850 million and held 36 meetings both in Canberra and around Australia.

Each Public Works Committee brings a different focus to its work in examining the expenditure of public money on government construction projects. One of the key issues that the committee focused on in 2018 was the cost of contractors. The committee was concerned that contractors often constitute an additional layer of cost in public works projects, and that the tier 1 contractors may put local contractors and small to medium enterprises at a disadvantage. The committee was pleased to note that, in some cases, tender processes were expected to target tier 2 and tier 3 contractors. I would certainly encourage departments and agencies to continue this practice.

On a related note, the committee also examined the engagement of local contractors. Of interest to the committee is not only the trend towards seeking to engage local contractors in construction projects but that steps were sometimes being taken towards assessing the capacity of local contractors prior to approaching the market. The committee particularly commends the Department of Defence for its efforts to quantify the engagement of local contractors and anticipates seeing the outcomes of this in future post-implementation reports.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my fellow committee members from the 45th Parliament. It was a privilege to work with all of you. I look forward to continuing the committee's work in ensuring that taxpayer money is spent on public works as efficiently and effectively as possible. I'd also like to welcome both my fellow committee members who have joined us for the first time and those who have rejoined us on the committee in the last two weeks. I would like to state that I look forward to a productive and no doubt busy year. Finally, I'd like to thank our secretariat, who have supported us so very well and with absolute professionalism. I commend the report to the House.