Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

AUSTRALIAN SYNCHROTRON: FUNDING
1644 COUNCIL Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Australian synchrotron’s operations. Maybe the federal
government has been flat out trying to work out its
carbon tax — this great big new tax that will affect
every single Australian.
Mr Finn — And achieve nothing.
Mr ONDARCHIE — It will increase the cost of
energy, and, as Mr Finn has just said, it will achieve
nothing. It will increase the cost of goods and services,
and importantly it will threaten Australian jobs.
Mr Finn — Hundreds and thousands of them.
Mr ONDARCHIE — Hundreds and thousands of
Australian jobs will be at risk due to this great big new
tax. Where is the Labor Party on this? It is silent.
We on this side of the house acknowledge the scientific
value of the synchrotron. This is yet another example of
a project that was botched by the inept Brumby Labor
government. To put the issue completely into context,
this project was late and it was over budget. That is
almost a bumper sticker for the former government:
‘We were late and over budget’. The project was one
year late in delivery. The former government
announced it would be finished in June 2006, but it
opened in July 2007 and it was over budget. The
Auditor-General has gone through that in his report.
The situation left by the previous government has
meant that there is no funding for the synchrotron
beyond 2012. It was late and over budget.
There are two funding scenarios on the table. The
minimum funding requirement for the synchrotron is
$156 million over four years, but if the synchrotron
wishes to position itself as world class and world scale,
which is what the Australian Synchrotron Company
wants to do, the funding requirement would be
$294 million over four years. That is the level of the
shortfall. That is the level of the black hole. Late, over
budget and a black hole — we see a recurring theme
here with the Brumby Labor government.
In addition there was some capacity to negotiate with
the commonwealth government for some of this
funding. And guess what? I regret to inform this house
that the Brumby Labor government did not even bother
to do the tough work of negotiating funding from the
commonwealth government. It failed to negotiate with
the commonwealth government for some funding for
this project, and today the former government sits
opposite — I would say en masse, but it is singularly —
and bleats that this project has not got appropriate
funding.
Mr O’Donohue — There are two of them.
Mr ONDARCHIE — There you go. There is no
surprise about that. I understand that the
commonwealth government has indicated its
willingness to discuss the synchrotron’s future. I also
acknowledge that the commonwealth has previously
provided $50 million in recurrent funding and
$14 million in beamline funding for the synchrotron,
and we recognise the fantastic work of the previous
Howard government in getting that project under way.
However, negotiating with the commonwealth should
have been a key priority for the previous state
government, and it was not. It forgot. It is a bit like the
desalination plant — late, over budget and ‘We forgot’.
The former government rushed headlong into the
synchrotron project. It bypassed the Australian
Synchrotron bid, which probably would have been a
better-thought-out bid, to establish its own synchrotron.
It is a bit like a ticketing system: ‘Let’s not listen to the
experts; let’s do our own thing’ — myki mania at its
best. Unfortunately for the synchrotron there are no
plans and no funding, and — here is the catch — no
idea has been left behind by the previous government.
This is another example of a Labor financial mess and
yet another problem the Baillieu coalition government
will have to fix. Members of the former government
were wayward. They were like ball boys at the French
Open. They just ran and charged headlong into the
action without any consideration for the implications.
Late, over budget and no negotiation with the
commonwealth — there is a recurring theme here.
I have to say that funding for 2011–12 is secure. The
first five years of the operation have been jointly funded
by the Victorian government and the commonwealth
government, each committing $50 million. The funds
are held in a dedicated trust, as I have spoken about.
The New Zealand government has also contributed
three-quarters of a million dollars per annum to the
operating costs.
The Australian Synchrotron is required to provide an
annual budget by 31 May each year for the following
financial year. To be fair I am not sure if it did that by
yesterday’s deadline. We acknowledge the value of the
synchrotron. Our criticism is directed at the former
government’s mismanagement of the project — a
$57 million cost blow-out, one year late in delivery and
no plans as to how the recurrent funding will be funded.
There are no plans for its future operation.
Ongoing funding was only achieved when the then
Howard government contributed $50 million for five
years until 2012 on the condition that the state
government matched that funding. That was the former