Friday, 19 August 2022

Bendigo GovHub

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:25): My question is for the Minister for Regional Development. Will the minister confirm that the cost blowout in the Regional Development Victoria (RDV) Bendigo GovHub—predominantly for its information and communication technology, ICT, obligations—required a Treasurer’s advance to address the blowout, and will the minister confirm the amount sought was an additional $9.5 million?

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (12:25): Thank you, Ms Lovell, for yet again giving me an opportunity to stand up and to talk about this government’s record investment into regional development. Since we were elected, what we have seen is $36 billion invested into regional Victoria. That is nearly three times what was invested by the former—

Mr Davis: On a point of order, President, this is a highly specific question about one project. It is not an opportunity for the minister to go on a general frolic; she announced at the start that she wants to go on a long talk. It is about one project in one city and one cost blowout.

Mr Leane: On the point of order, President—and General Frolic over there—Ms Shing has only been up for 30 seconds, so I think that Mr Davis needs to curb his enthusiasm.

The PRESIDENT: You know I cannot direct the minister in how to answer a question. I agree she had just stood up.

Ms SHING: Thank you very much, President. It is unfortunate that those opposite actually want to curtail the discussion that we are in the process of now having about our record investment into regional infrastructure. When we look at the recent discussion about the importance of investing into infrastructure—

Mr Davis: On a point of order, President, the discussion is not about the government’s general investment. The question is about a specific project. You cannot direct a minister in how to answer, but you can indicate that a minister must be relevant.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you again, Mr Davis. Minister, please be relevant to the question.

Ms SHING: Let us try for take 3 on this particular question. As I was saying, the record investment into infrastructure across regional Victoria has enabled GovHubs to be developed and to be delivered around regional Victoria, including in Ballarat, in Bendigo and in Morwell. What this has enabled us to do—in the face of abject neglect by the former federal government in decentralising government services, programs and employment opportunities—is build upon the work we have already done in Geelong and make sure that across Bendigo, Ballarat and indeed Morwell we see record numbers of opportunities developed for public sector workers who might otherwise have needed to move beyond regional centres and down to Melbourne to undertake their work.

We have in fact seen that, as a consequence of scope changes, the development and delivery of a range of functions across GovHubs have needed to be refined over time. It may come as no surprise to people in government that in fact if you are in the process of being at all connected with market changes and uplift of costs across the board, including under the former federal government, including as they relate to upward pressure for a range of primary materials and labour across Australia and indeed around the world, there need to be—

Mr Davis: On a point of order, President, we have still got the minister on a general frolic. It is a very specific question about one GovHub in Bendigo and the costs and the cost blowout on it. It is not a general matter about the federal government; it has got to be relevant.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, I have to ask you to come back to the question.

Ms SHING: I was quite literally in the process of answering the question around the range of further refinements that need to be undertaken when and as there is any change to the scope or indeed to the fit-out and to the program delivery of capital or of operational costs not just across government projects like this—record-setting government projects like this in regional Victoria—but across a range of different projects. It should come as no surprise that any kind of fit-out that is required to be undertaken should be done properly, and that is indeed exactly what we are doing.

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:30): The minister’s desperate grab for her iPhone every time there was a break there—

Ms Shing: On a point of order, President, I am just wondering if Ms Lovell needs to go back to Brighton to find an iPhone of her own.

The PRESIDENT: Ms Lovell to return to her supplementary.

Ms LOVELL: The minister’s desperate grab for her phone showed us that she did not know the answer, so I will help her out. Minister, the original state budget allocation was $16 million, so the additional $9.5 million represents a 60 per cent cost blowout. I therefore ask: what steps or mechanisms will you put in place as minister to ensure that such cost blowouts on RDV projects do not occur in the future?

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (12:31): Let us try this again, Ms Lovell. The work that is undertaken around any large-scale project, whether in the middle of Melbourne or at the edge of our state, requires a constant understanding of the way in which projects are managed and the way in which costs are incurred over time. The great disappointment in not only the way you have asked this question but the way that you conduct your narrative outside this place is that you do not seem to understand that there are necessary adjustments that need to be—

Mr Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister is on a frolic again, attacking the opposition. She should answer the question and be relevant to the question. It is a very specific point about what steps she will take.

The PRESIDENT: Mr Davis, I believe the minister was relevant. But, Minister, please stick to the answer.

Ms SHING: As I was hoping to indicate at the outset, this particular GovHub facility is in the process of being delivered as scheduled within the project envelope and to be operational early next year. In order to do that we need to manage the project as it continues to be developed and to be delivered, and we are doing that after having allocated that $16 million and will continue to manage the project until it works as it deserves to.

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:32): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.