Article – Parliament lease details not finalised

Parliament lease details not finalised

by Zoe Edwards

The Examiner, 23 May 2010

DETAILS of a long-term lease agreement between the State Government and the company contracted to build a new government office building behind Parliament House are yet to be finalised.

Citta Property Group plans to demolish government office block 10 Murray Street to build a five-star green building, as part of its Parliament Square redevelopment.

Treasurer Michael Aird says the Government had guaranteed to lease the new building but could not detail the length or cost of the agreement.

“Negotiation of the final terms of a lease agreement have not been finalised,” Mr Aird said.

This comes at a time when the Government is proceeding to buy back Burnie’s North West Regional Hospital for $29million, releasing the Government from the final 10 years of a $5million-a-year lease for the site.

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Article: Govt pours $25m into offices

Govt pours $25m into offices

SUE NEALES

The Mercury, February 11, 2010

THE Bartlett Government has approved an extra $25 million of funding to decorate plush new offices for its Cabinet ministers.

And senior bureaucrats at a time when state health, hospital and disability budgets are being pruned and cut

The Government’s latest financial report reveals it plans to spend $25.5 million over the next three years furnishing and fitting out government offices in the soon-to-constructed $100 million Parliament Square development close to Hobart’s waterfront.

But no public announcement has yet been made by the Government explaining its lavish spending plans for its new offices.

Most other changed spending priorities earmarked in the latest December financial figures such as extra money for frontline nurses, teachers, police and park rangers have been unveiled with great fanfare by the Bartlett Government as pre-election sweeteners.

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