❓ Hon Ken Travers questions the Minister for Finance regarding the proposed government office accommodation in Joondalup, including agency selection, timelines, and reasons for previous unsuccessful attempts. The Minister provides a broad response, outlining the government's intentions and timeline, but avoids specific details.
AnsweredQoN 1042Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
GOVERNMENT OFFICE ACCOMMODATION — JOONDALUP
1042. Hon KEN TRAVERS to the Minister for Finance:
I am having a copy of the question provided to the minister
as I speak.
I refer to the minister's announcement last Friday
regarding the proposed government accommodation in Joondalup.
(1) How will the minister choose the agencies that are to be
moved to Joondalup?
(2) When does the minister expect the 600 staff will commence
working in Joondalup?
(3) Why was
Joondalup not successful in the government's previous expression of
interest process to locate government offices outside the central business
district?
(4) What has
changed that now gives the minister confidence that a government office can be
located in Joondalup?
1042. Hon KEN TRAVERS to the Minister for Finance:
I am having a copy of the question provided to the minister
as I speak.
I refer to the minister's announcement last Friday
regarding the proposed government accommodation in Joondalup.
(1) How will the minister choose the agencies that are to be
moved to Joondalup?
(2) When does the minister expect the 600 staff will commence
working in Joondalup?
(3) Why was
Joondalup not successful in the government's previous expression of
interest process to locate government offices outside the central business
district?
(4) What has
changed that now gives the minister confidence that a government office can be
located in Joondalup?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the
honourable member for his question.
(1)–(4) The member is right: there
was a good news story, and it was a great pleasure to go up to Joondalup the
other day to announce government's decision to now go ahead to obtain
expressions of interest from parties interested in engaging with government to
establish a major government office accommodation presence in or around the
City of Joondalup. It was welcomed by the Mayor of Joondalup and by business
associations, not only in the northern suburbs but also in the Perth CBD. They
thought it was a good move by the government in considering this aspect of our government
office accommodation program.
It follows on from my announcement, to which the member alluded, that
the headquarters function of several major agencies will be located out of the
CBD, specifically the Department of Commerce will be moving to Stirling as the
anchor tenant of new government office accommodation there; the Department of
Housing is going down to Fremantle and —
Hon Ken Travers : Are you going to answer the specific
questions I have asked?
Hon SIMON O'BRIEN : This is part and parcel of the member's
question. It is good news and I welcome the member raising it because it gives
me the opportunity to advise and update the house.
Of course, police
headquarters are going to —
Hon Ken Travers : I have read the press release. I want to have
the answer to my question!
The PRESIDENT : Order! I remind
members that because of a previous resolution passed this week, I am obliged at
5.00 pm to do certain things. If some members have not had the opportunity to
ask a question by then, I am afraid I can do nothing about it as I will have to
proceed to that business. I ask members asking questions and ministers
answering questions to keep that in mind.
Hon SIMON O'BRIEN : And, of course, the police are going down to
Murdoch. In terms of how we will choose the agencies to be moved to Joondalup,
I will preface my remarks because there will not be an entire agency, such as
the ones I have mentioned, moving out of the Perth CBD—it will be
elements of the headquarters' role of an agency or agencies, most probably
in the corporate services area. I think that will be welcomed by staff members
who might otherwise have to commute to Perth to work, and instead they can work
near where they live. The agencies will be chosen and announced by cabinet.
There has obviously been a lot of engagement with ministers and agencies prior
to this, and it would be premature to identify them at this stage because we
want to work through processes with those staff, rather than create a sense of
uncertainty. The time frame is probably about 2017–18 at this stage. It
is early days yet, but planning has been a feature of our government office
accommodation program, which is delivering results.
On part (3) of the
member's question, I think I indicated it is a different intention of
government with this recent announcement than the previous one to locate entire
departments. I think I have responded to all parts of the member's
question, I thank the member for asking it.
honourable member for his question.
(1)–(4) The member is right: there
was a good news story, and it was a great pleasure to go up to Joondalup the
other day to announce government's decision to now go ahead to obtain
expressions of interest from parties interested in engaging with government to
establish a major government office accommodation presence in or around the
City of Joondalup. It was welcomed by the Mayor of Joondalup and by business
associations, not only in the northern suburbs but also in the Perth CBD. They
thought it was a good move by the government in considering this aspect of our government
office accommodation program.
It follows on from my announcement, to which the member alluded, that
the headquarters function of several major agencies will be located out of the
CBD, specifically the Department of Commerce will be moving to Stirling as the
anchor tenant of new government office accommodation there; the Department of
Housing is going down to Fremantle and —
Hon Ken Travers : Are you going to answer the specific
questions I have asked?
Hon SIMON O'BRIEN : This is part and parcel of the member's
question. It is good news and I welcome the member raising it because it gives
me the opportunity to advise and update the house.
Of course, police
headquarters are going to —
Hon Ken Travers : I have read the press release. I want to have
the answer to my question!
The PRESIDENT : Order! I remind
members that because of a previous resolution passed this week, I am obliged at
5.00 pm to do certain things. If some members have not had the opportunity to
ask a question by then, I am afraid I can do nothing about it as I will have to
proceed to that business. I ask members asking questions and ministers
answering questions to keep that in mind.
Hon SIMON O'BRIEN : And, of course, the police are going down to
Murdoch. In terms of how we will choose the agencies to be moved to Joondalup,
I will preface my remarks because there will not be an entire agency, such as
the ones I have mentioned, moving out of the Perth CBD—it will be
elements of the headquarters' role of an agency or agencies, most probably
in the corporate services area. I think that will be welcomed by staff members
who might otherwise have to commute to Perth to work, and instead they can work
near where they live. The agencies will be chosen and announced by cabinet.
There has obviously been a lot of engagement with ministers and agencies prior
to this, and it would be premature to identify them at this stage because we
want to work through processes with those staff, rather than create a sense of
uncertainty. The time frame is probably about 2017–18 at this stage. It
is early days yet, but planning has been a feature of our government office
accommodation program, which is delivering results.
On part (3) of the
member's question, I think I indicated it is a different intention of
government with this recent announcement than the previous one to locate entire
departments. I think I have responded to all parts of the member's
question, I thank the member for asking it.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.