Tuesday, 24 May 2022
Constituency questions
Western Victoria Region
Western Victoria Region
Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:22): (1787) My question is for the Minister for Regional Development and concerns the Ballarat GovHub. As recently as 16 November last year, in a statement to Parliament, the minister boasted that:
… as the members for Wendouree and Buninyong … will attest the Ballarat GovHub is revitalising the Ballarat CBD, accommodating up to a thousand jobs and attracting workers …
Businesses actually in Ballarat CBD, however, know this is simply not true. An essential justification for the $100 million-plus cost was to relocate jobs and revitalise the city’s economy. As the Ballarat Courier reports, this just has not happened. Have the bureaucrats stayed in Melbourne or are they just working from home? Either way, it looks like the astonishing bill for moving them has been totally wasted. My question for the minister is: how many public service staff permanently work in the Ballarat GovHub and how many are currently attending the building each day?