Asbestos, landscaping and what? State Square underground car park cost blowout still unexplained

Landscaping the top of Darwin’s State Square underground carpark accounted for $1.7m of the project’s sizeable cost blowout but millions more remain unexplained by the NT government.

The view from the 5th floor of Parliament House, Darwin, including views of the Deck Chair Cinema, the Esplanade and the new State Square development. Picture: Che Chorley

LANDSCAPING the top of Darwin’s State Square underground carpark accounted for $1.7m of the project’s sizeable cost blowout but millions more remain unexplained by the NT government.

It was revealed during budget estimates in December that the project cost $7.3m more than originally tendered, bringing the official price tag to a whopping $26.7m.

At the time “large” portions of the extra money were linked to fixing the asbestos issue ($2.7m) and landscaping the roof.

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The view from the 5th floor of Parliament House, Darwin, including views of the Deck Chair Cinema, the Esplanade and the new State Square development. Picture: Che Chorley

The government has since revealed, via a question on notice, that the landscaping works cost $1.7m.

This leaves $2.9m of the State Square carpark’s cost blowout unaccounted for.

Asked to explain what this money paid for, Infrastructure and Planning Minister instead argued the “budget” set for the project had never blown out because the government had set aside $31.1m and delivered it for $26.7m.

The original contract to build the project, awarded to Tomazos, was worth $19.4m.

“The original contract for works did not include landscaping and the size of the asbestos remediation was not known at the time,” Ms Lawler said.

INfrastructure and Planning Minister Eva Lawler .Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley. Picture: Che Chorley

Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley slammed the cost blowout as “typical” of the government’s economic “mismanagement” and said Territorians “neither asked for nor wanted this carpark”.

“Everything to do with this project doesn’t pass the pub test,” he said.

The cost of landscaping the carpark was revealed in one of 227 questions on notice asked during budget estimates, which the government was due to lodge answers for by Friday.

A total of 12 questions remain unanswered.

Details uncovered include:

• the Myilly Point project has cost $1.7m more than expected due to asbestos issues

• the government has so far paid out $591,251 under the National Redress Scheme

• a whole-of-sector public service employee survey hasn’t been conducted since 2016.

• the police plane was used 32 times in the months following the death of Kumanjayi Walker to fly officers and public servants to and from Yuendumu.