10/11/00
The State Government has not made a commitment to lease office space from Multiplex in the contract negotiations for the proposed Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre and will not.
Tourism Minister Norman Moore said there was no deal to relocate the Government employees.
Mr Moore said a newspaper report that he had confirmed in Parliament a plan to move the Ministry of Sport and Recreation and the Western Australian Tourism Commission to office space in the PCEC and soccer stadium was totally wrong.
A further claim that office-leasing deals were part of final contract negotiations also was wrong.
Mr Moore said the question of Government departments taking up office space was not part of negotiations to finalise the contract for the centre.
He said that what he did say in Parliament in relation to the Ministry of Sport and Recreation on Wednesday was:
“It is not totally out of the question, but it is not part of the negotiations.
“As the Ministry must shift from Perry Lakes in due course, it is not out of the question that it (the soccer stadium) would be a suitable site for that organisation.
‘However, there are a number of other possible sites for location of the Ministry of Sport and Recreation…..
“No decisions have been made and no serious consideration has been given to that issue.”
Mr Moore said that as far as the WA Tourism Commission was concerned, he told Parliament:
“The Tourism Commission is interested in taking some space at the convention centre because there will be up to 5,000 delegates there at any one point in time.
“It would make more sense to have a tourism commission or a visitors’ centre there to provide advice and support to tourists and convention delegates who are at the convention centre.
“No decision has been made about that either. I am saying it is a possibility and it is a very sensible proposition.”
The Minister said other suitable tenants could include event organisers or sports management companies.
He also refuted opposition claims that the tender process was flawed.
“Probity auditors Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu have been involved throughout the process and have confirmed that the process is fair,” Mr Moore said.
He said details of the contract could not be discussed until Cabinet had reviewed the proposal and made a decision on whether to accept the contract.
"There are going to be some changes to the proposal,” he said.
“We have specifically asked Multiplex to make some changes to reflect the input from relevant statutory authorities and the public in general who responded to a call for feedback.
"But the bottom line has to be that the proposal at contractual close must be, at least, equivalent to the winning preferred provider bid.
"We will not accept a contract which offers less than the bid at preferred provider, but if there are modifications that enhance, or improve, the design, it would be foolish to refuse to allow those changes."
The panels which originally evaluated the preferred provider bid are also assessing the contractual position before it is submitted to Cabinet.
Media contact: Hartley Joynt, Minister’s office, 9321 1444
