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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-28 Daily Xml
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Women's and Children's Hospital

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:19): My question is again to the Treasurer. What is the current estimated total cost of the Women's and Children's Hospital, including interest payments and contingency, and what is the impact on the budget forward estimates, given the new time frame?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (15:19): We have already released a cost estimate of between $3 billion and $3.2 billion. As I was at pains to point out in my previous answer to a question from the member for Badcoe, inflation has a significant impact on construction costs. It has to be taken into account, and the longer a build program is the more it contributes to the total costs of a project. For example, the member for Hartley is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —nodding his head as if he's got some demeanour of agreement with me. You might think that if you have a cost in 2019 of $1.9 billion and three years of delay—when commercial construction costs have gone up by 30 per cent—roughly speaking, 30 per cent of $1.9 billion is over $550 million. A minimum of three years of complete and utter inertia, those opposite being decisive when they were in government as glaciers whizzed past them—that is the real cost of delays on major projects.

Of course, you can say the same thing for the member for Hartley and his former Minister for Transport and Industry. We are reflecting on former ministers during this question time, aren't we, and their performance—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Fallen colleagues.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —fallen colleagues—and the delays of doing nothing on the north-south corridor and what that is contributing to overall costs. It does have a cost. It does include—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is warned.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —an appropriate allowance and a recognition of a construction time frame—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey! Member for Hammond!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —and the impact that escalation has on that cost.

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