Crisafulli Government to save hospital plan
- Team appointed to scrutinise delivery timelines and construction sector constraints to save Queensland's Hospital Capacity Expansion Program
- Labor's blowouts push $9.785 billion program to $16 billion and more
- Saving the hospital expansion program is a top priority of the Crisafulli Government
The Crisafulli Government has announced the next step in its plan to save the state's Hospital Capacity Expansion Program (CEP) after it was revealed the costs for delivering the critical projects had blown out by billions under the chaos and crisis of Labor.
Queensland Health's multi-billion dollar CEP is responsible for expanding 11 existing hospitals as well as building three new hospitals and the Queensland Cancer Centre.
A team led by hospital infrastructure specialist Mr Sam Sangster will undertake an analysis of the CEP to date, investigate the positive impacts of removing Labor's CFMEU tax on infrastructure budgets, and ensure construction demands spread between projects can be properly resourced.
Mr Sangster is experienced in public health infrastructure program delivery, financial oversight and cost control and governance and accountability in public sector programs. His appointment promotes objectivity and impartiality, as he has had no prior involvement with the CEP in Queensland. Mr Sangster has provided health infrastructure services to the South Australian Government and NSW Health.
Scrutiny will cover all aspects of the CEP - governance, project management and delivery, budget overruns and stakeholder engagement - and will focus forensically on the impact past government policies like the Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) have had on project costs and timelines.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls said Mr Sangster and his team would assist in ensuring the Crisafulli Government saved the hospital expansion program from the former Labor Government's failures.
"Let me be clear - the Queensland Government is fully committed to new and upgraded hospitals as essential building blocks in delivering the health services Queenslanders need, through the Capacity Expansion Program," Minister Nicholls said.
"This step ensures we will save these projects from Labor's mismanagement.
"We are going to save these projects and this step is about ensuring our Government will deliver every single one of them, something that never would have occurred under the Labor Government.
"Under Labor, project costs skyrocketed by billions as construction demands and timelines cannibalised each other.
"Labor had zero ability or strategy to deal with the pipeline of projects they announced. It is now our responsibility to fix their failures and deliver these critical hospitals for communities and that is exactly what we are going to do.
"This is the infrastructure health check Labor never did because they were owned and run by the CFMEU.
"Projects like expanding hospitals in Townsville and Mackay, and building three new facilities at Coomera, Bundaberg and Toowoomba, will be saved from Labor's financial mismanagement by applying independent scrutiny to the program in the early months of the Crisafulli Government.
"The program is facing a blowout of more than $6 billion and there are estimates this may double if we do nothing.
"We owe it to Queenslanders to deliver the best healthcare infrastructure and services possible while ensuring their taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly."
Minister Nicholls said the scrutiny by the team would help inform the Queensland Government's approach to ensuring the CEP was effectively resourced, supported, delivered and enhanced.
"We need to restore public confidence in the Capacity Expansion Program, by ensuring public funds are used efficiently and high-quality infrastructure projects can be delivered on time and within budget.
"There will always be challenges in delivering such a large-scale and complex build program so we must do as much as we can to identify and address any deficiencies.
"The Crisafulli Government's decision to suspend BPIC is already giving Queensland Health greater flexibility to negotiate contracts that represent value for money.
"We need to understand the full extent of BPIC's impact on the Capacity Expansion Program, along with identifying improvements that can be made to benefit current and future projects including prioritising regional jobs for regionally based contractors.
"This independent scrutiny will complement the work already underway as part of our Easier Access to Health Services plan to ensure Queenslanders receive an exceptional level of healthcare," Minister Nicholls said.
Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Major Contractors Association, Andrew Chapman, welcomed the decision of the Crisafulli Government to initiate scrutiny of the CEP.
Mr Chapman said, "When the Queensland hospital Capital Expansion Program was first announced in 2022 at $9.8 billion, the construction industry voiced concerns about the deliverability of the program - 11 builds planned at the same time was always going to over commit the sector.
"Our Queensland Major Projects and Pipeline Report for 2024 highlighted the current hospital build program was going to consume all available trade resources at a time of competing demands across housing, health, transport, energy-transition and the 2032 Games build.
"We welcome the approach adopted by the Crisafulli Government in its first 100 days and talking with the industry about how to get the sequencing right for all the significant public works projects, including these large hospital CEP projects," Mr Chapman said.
