Ali Curung Youth Centre stuck in no man’s land after cost overrun and terminated contract
Early works began in April 2021, yet more than four years later the site is just “a vacant lot with wooden stakes and a pile of metal framing” amid council bungling and a terminated contract. No-one can say when it might be complete.
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A proposed youth centre in an Aboriginal community south of Tennant Creek is stuck in limbo four years after early works first began, with a contractual dispute stemming from a $1.5m cost blow out ultimately landing in the Supreme Court.
The Ali Curung Youth Centre, funded as part of the trilateral $78m, 10-year Barkly Regional Deal (which has been beset by delay and underperformance), promised to be a “hub for youth and community activities and workshops around sport, arts and culture, meetings and music”, according to the text of the deal.
On April 12, 2021, Barkly MLA and now CLP minister Steve Edgington, alongside sacked mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin, his deputy Ronald Plummer, and former senator Dr Sam McMahon, posed outside the site of the youth centre.
“It’s fantastic to see construction of the new Ali Curung Youth Centre underway,” Mr Edgington wrote.
“[It] will be a terrific investment for Ali Curung and the many young people and families who are looking forward to completion.”
Now it can be revealed the youth centre is lost in no man’s land after the suspension of the contract between the council and Harvey Developments (NT) Pty Ltd and a Supreme Court case over a disputed $434,850.49 progress payment.
According to a December 4 judgment by Justice Sonia Brownhill, in which she ruled the council was liable to pay the amount almost in its entirety, a contract between the parties was signed on February 22, 2021, stipulating a payment for works of $2,559,828.09.
Two years later, on June 8, 2023, Harvey Developments (HD) provided to the council a revised total price for the contract of $4,081,344.03.
According to Justice Brownhill, the council responded by giving HD approval to proceed with substantive works, telling the company, “[Council] acknowledges your revised pricing for the contract ... received via email on 08 June 2023 together with your revised costing substantiation”.
It then made $644,391.18 of progress payments to HD, before the seventh claim was inexplicably rejected, the council telling the company, “it did not accept that the total price of the contract had, by agreement between the parties, been increased from that set out in the contract”.
Shortly before the contract was terminated on February 6 this year, HD lodged a last claim for $434,850.49.
The matter landed in the Supreme Court after an official contractual adjudicator appointed via the Construction Contracts (Security of Payments) Act 2004 ruled against the council, finding it was liable.
Before Justice Brownhill, the council’s main argument was the $644,391.18 progress payments were “adequate and sufficient” for the amount of work completed by HD, in light of its view the contract price had not been amended, such that the additional payment would be unfair.
Official council manager Peter Holt (appointed after the council was suspended and subsequently sacked) was the driving force behind this view, with a site visit leaving him underwhelmed.
“He said he visited the site and saw a vacant lot with ‘wooden stakes’ and a pile of metal framing... and he formed the view that there was insufficient evidence of progress to justify an additional payment to HD,” Justice Brownhill told the court.
She ultimately agreed with the adjudicator’s decision, declining the council’s application to remit the matter back for redetermination.
She found the contract price had in fact been altered, and the council had not substantiated its claim the work wasn’t worth an additional $434,850.49 by, for instance, commissioning an independent assessment.
According to council documents, Mr Holt was dissatisfied with how the sacked council handled the contract, and referred the matter to an internal audit committee prior to new members being elected last month.
In the March 2024 Barkly Regional Deal Governance Table Communique, it was reported former council CEO Ian Bodill thought the youth centre “may have to be rescoped and refunded before the community will finally see their youth centre built and operational”.
Newly elected Barkly Mayor Sid Vashist told this masthead councillors would be briefed on stalled Barkly Regional Deal projects, including the Ali Curung Youth Centre, at the general meeting on December 13.
“We’ve inherited some legacy issues, some of them quite significant that matter to the people of the Barkly,” he said.
“My promise is to run an open and transparent council, and they will be kept informed.”
Earlier this year, it was reported just six of the 28 initiatives promised under the Barkly Regional Deal had been completed, despite half the 10 years elapsing.
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