Mr WOOD - 2005-02-08
Considering the increasing amount of taxpayers’ funds involved in the waterfront project, has the government done a cost-benefit analysis of the project? If not, does it intend to? Will it be done by an independent assessor? Will all the details of the cost-benefit analysis be made available to the public and, when will that occur?
ANSWER
Thank you, member for Nelson, for the question. I hope that you, along with something like 8000 Territorians, took advantage over the last few months of taking a look of the model of the waterfront.
Mr Wood: Twice.
Ms MARTIN: Twice?
Mr Wood: Get those heights right.
Ms MARTIN: Excellent. The model of the waterfront was in the CBD over Christmas, and now it is out at Casuarina. I spent many hours standing there talking to Territorians and experiencing their delight at what is a great project for Darwin.
We sat here and listened to the negative attitude of the opposition; the fact that they want to scrap it and they do not think it is of benefit to Darwin. This was after our sittings in December when all we heard were negative comments about pulling down the waterfront, and negative comments such as ‘We are going to scrap it, it is of no benefit to Darwin’. When you listen to Territorians, people were walking past saying: ‘This is terrific’. It was not just, ‘It’s okay’, it was: ‘This is terrific. This is a project for our future. This will create jobs’. I was really heartened by the very positive comments and the enthusiasm that was truly contagious.
Specifically, on a cost-benefit analysis of the waterfront project, the key part of the project for that cost-benefit analysis, of course, is a convention centre. The convention centre, as we know, will drive economic growth and development for us. It will provide local jobs and draw business and tourism from around Australia and, hopefully, from those countries to our north.
In the first half of 2003, we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake an evaluation of the need for a convention centre in Darwin. I talked about that work at that time. The PwC report provided a cost-benefit appraisal of the preferred options. That appraisal was very encouraging in its conclusions on the financial outcomes that would stem from the overall development.
That full cost-benefit appraisal has not been released to any third party - including the bidding consortia or the preferred consortium - since this would prejudice the government’s negotiating position. However, shared in this House is the fact that the economics, the flow-ons, and the multipliers of a convention centre will be significant. The figure that we released publicly from that report was that, over the next 10 years, it would bring $190 m additional to Darwin. Therefore, when you look at the flow-on from the convention centre, what is absolutely identified is that it flows on to a variety of businesses in the city where it is placed, and that ranges from hairdressers and florists, through to caterers and tourist operators.
To answer your question, member for Nelson, the work was done specific to the convention and exhibition centre, and it was very positive.
ANSWER
Thank you, member for Nelson, for the question. I hope that you, along with something like 8000 Territorians, took advantage over the last few months of taking a look of the model of the waterfront.
Mr Wood: Twice.
Ms MARTIN: Twice?
Mr Wood: Get those heights right.
Ms MARTIN: Excellent. The model of the waterfront was in the CBD over Christmas, and now it is out at Casuarina. I spent many hours standing there talking to Territorians and experiencing their delight at what is a great project for Darwin.
We sat here and listened to the negative attitude of the opposition; the fact that they want to scrap it and they do not think it is of benefit to Darwin. This was after our sittings in December when all we heard were negative comments about pulling down the waterfront, and negative comments such as ‘We are going to scrap it, it is of no benefit to Darwin’. When you listen to Territorians, people were walking past saying: ‘This is terrific’. It was not just, ‘It’s okay’, it was: ‘This is terrific. This is a project for our future. This will create jobs’. I was really heartened by the very positive comments and the enthusiasm that was truly contagious.
Specifically, on a cost-benefit analysis of the waterfront project, the key part of the project for that cost-benefit analysis, of course, is a convention centre. The convention centre, as we know, will drive economic growth and development for us. It will provide local jobs and draw business and tourism from around Australia and, hopefully, from those countries to our north.
In the first half of 2003, we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake an evaluation of the need for a convention centre in Darwin. I talked about that work at that time. The PwC report provided a cost-benefit appraisal of the preferred options. That appraisal was very encouraging in its conclusions on the financial outcomes that would stem from the overall development.
That full cost-benefit appraisal has not been released to any third party - including the bidding consortia or the preferred consortium - since this would prejudice the government’s negotiating position. However, shared in this House is the fact that the economics, the flow-ons, and the multipliers of a convention centre will be significant. The figure that we released publicly from that report was that, over the next 10 years, it would bring $190 m additional to Darwin. Therefore, when you look at the flow-on from the convention centre, what is absolutely identified is that it flows on to a variety of businesses in the city where it is placed, and that ranges from hairdressers and florists, through to caterers and tourist operators.
To answer your question, member for Nelson, the work was done specific to the convention and exhibition centre, and it was very positive.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016