Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 3:24:51 to 3:31:26
The department explains the use of "gateway reviews" and independent assurance throughout a project's life cycle to identify risks early and share lessons across jurisdictions.
Topics: Infrastructure, Procurement, Integrity
Speakers: Mr. Jim Betts, Hon Bridget McKenzie, Senator Glenn Sterle, Senator Ross Cadell, Unknown Speaker, Jessica Hall
>> Thanks Mr. Bits. No further questions. >> No one resigning or returning. >> Oh hang on here we go.
so I really appreciate those those thoughts and I'm not looking for opinions. Uh, but Senator McKenzie raises a really really good point about what process is there within the department or across government that you're aware of that conducts these or should conduct these postimplementation post construction reviews. So, so that we learn from the successes of projects which are delivered on time and on budget for these huge mega infrastructure projects which Western Sydney airport is but also learn from other projects which may have been built in national parks um which haven't come in on time and within budget which are there any overarching processes so we don't lose that knowledge and we can actually apply the lessons good and bad to future projects. >> Yes, there are. Miss Hall can give you detail on this, but um one of the reforms that we've embedded in the new federal funding agreements is to borrow from um a number of states mature models of um gateway reviews which at critical points along a project's life cycle from inception when it's a bright idea supported by a 20page preliminary business case through to investment decision through to procurement through to construction through to commissioning through to post construction kind of benefits realization [clears throat] that you're describing. cribing not only is um documentation produced but it's independently reviewed by people who have deep subject matter knowledge and hands-on experience of delivering projects in jurisdictions around the country. So that gateway review or external assurance techn uh apparatus is something that we've seen work well um in both Victoria and New South Wales sometimes highlighting project problems which need to be rectified but that's get them early and fix them. is the is the philosophy and we are endeavoring to inculcate that in our governance arrangements across all of the states and territories for all Commonwealth co-unded infrastructure project. >> Is anything produced publicly in that regard so that so that the the lessons of the good, the bad and the ugly are shared on Australia publishes a lot of information on this. It does uh independent reviews of business cases informed by what it's learned on other projects or what it's observed from other jurisdictions.
Infrastructure Australia like the actual >> like what specifically did this project um that others in all jurisdictions and you know like have been unable to do. What specifically um allowed Western Sydney Airport to just be the standout? I I I want the specific >> New South Wales. No, no, it's not just because there's plenty of examples in New South Wales of cost blowouts.
>> Um, well, to be honest, >> most of the things that were put in place for Western Sydney airport in terms of governance structures and so on are the same across other equivalent entities, whether it's NBN or Snowy Hydra or whatever. Sometimes it's the project's characteristics, sometimes it's the quality of the management. Um, and I certainly felt throughout the Western Sydney project that um, Simon Hickey and Paulo Sullivan were holding the government to account to get decisions taken in a timely fashion. And I'm talking about us as bureaucrats here. >> Um, we were never allowed by them to allow things to drift at our end. Plus, they invested in strong relationships with the New South Wales government which enabled them to get on with their jobs. So, a lot of this is about human stuff um around the quality of the people and the quality of their relationships, but it's also about making sure that the key risks are understood upfront before you've let contracts and got yourself bogged down in commercial processes. So I would always advise government to invest heavily in the initial scoping and definition of a project because if you try to skimp on that you'll end up paying 10 times over for it later on in the project life cycle
>> because I mean in this project it it sounds simple you know green field site but you had to move a cemetery.
>> Yeah.
>> We had to put power lines underground you know
>> to build bloody great big motorways as
well. >> That's right. >> That's right. And so your your advice is that that was scoped early.
>> Yeah.
>> Not a surprise halfway through. Oh, here's a cemetery.
>> Correct. And and the uh entity delivering it, as I said before, was able to scale up by using a delivery partner model where they bought in expertise from uh from an international player like Becttel to help them scope the project and define it.
>> Okay,
>> great news. Thank you. >> You've you mentioned good people. You've always been good, Mr. Betts here, at pointing out who's leaving or going. We've got almost 5 months to anyone you want to say call out while we're still in corporate or we're still good.
>> Well, anyone
>> you always say this is their last estimates or anyone like this or anyone who's been with us for a while. There's no one here we're doing calling out. You've always been quite good at that. >> It's Christmas coming.
>> I do I do want to pay tribute to Simon Hickey and Paul O Sullivan though and and their team at Western Sydney Airport who have been fantastic all the way through this.
Great. Okay, now run away, please. Outcome one officers. And we've got just while our officers are making their way to the main room, we have 30 minutes left before the 1:00 scheduled break for an Okay. Well, I welcome officers >> um who can assist us in outcome one and I invite questions. >> Senator McKenzie.