Freo’s never ending Walyalup ‘journey’ – $65m and climbing

“Good governance speaks in the language of ‘we’ not ‘you or I’ … I think moving forward we need to act collectively and speak collectively, effectively as the board of the organisation.” – Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge

By Carmelo Amalfi
COUNCIL tonight passed the controversial Kings Square business plan report in the face of a $65.8m blow out in the cost of the new Walyalup civic centre including more than $5m in architectural costs.
Criticising the City over a lack of transparency and consultation on the Kings Square ‘journey’, South Ward Cr Marija Vujcic said the 21-page report failed to acknowledged the true costs of the project.
“In my view the key items which lack transparency and good governance, providing the catalyst for the biggest financial cost blowout of a project the City has seen in decades if ever,” she said, adding page 99 of the agenda included a summary of escalating costs of $61.2m verified by the WA Auditor General.
Another $2.5m has been allocated in this year’s budget to finish the Walyalup civic centre and $1.2m in interest repayments on the $20m State Government loan, bringing the total to $64.9m.
“The table shows the Kings Square business plan was updated in 2016 and 2019. If these revisions exist they should presented,” Cr Vujcic said.
The South Ward councillor said demolition costs in the report were stated as $650,000 when the true cost according to the 2013 business plan was $2.5m: “Once again where were the budget amendments that should have been brought before council for approval?”
Cr Vujcic also asked why the additional architectural costs were not brought before council, even the auditors could not work out how the variations were approved.
The Auditor found the architectural services contract failed to provide sufficient oversight required to monitor costs to ensure value for money. The business plan initially estimated fees at $1.8m, the final bill $6.9m (www.streetwisemedia.com.au/devil-in-the-detail-in-freo-financials/).
“The auditors did not consider the project value for money for ratepayers,” she said. “How can the City claim the high moral ground with an update of a $16.5m cost overrun?”
Several councillors including Jenny Archibald and Rachel Pemberton said they were surprised by the high architectural costs. Cr Archibald described the project as a remarkable and outstanding achievement while Cr Pemberton said, “the blowout on the cost of architects was probably partly, largely, because of the time it has taken and the fact they had to be retained and engaged a lot longer than participated, although it was surprising”.
Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said after the vote supporting the Kings Square business plan report: “This for me is the line in the sand. The construction contract was an incredible outcome. It was the biggest contract by a long shot … the lessons we should be taking forward is how we do that again because that was incredible.”
She said the only concern raised by the Auditor was over the cost of the project architect, “the issue wasn’t so much about should we pay the architect given that the contract we had with them ended up where we were, it was whether we had sufficient governance to be sure we were getting good value for that”.
She added: “This project allowed us to fundamentally change Fremantle. Good governance speaks in the language of we not you or I … so I think moving forward we need to act collectively and speak collectively, as effectively the board of the organisation.”
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