Cost blows out on new ASIO head office

THE jewel in the crown of Australia's intelligence community - ASIO's new central office - has burst its budget once again, with the Canberra lakeside behemoth now set to cost more than $600 million.

The office will from next year house the 2000-odd employees of the nation's most powerful intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

The building was announced in 2007 by the Howard government at a cost of $460 million but the cost has ballooned several times since, finally reaching $631 million this month. The new figure represents a 37 per cent increase on the initial cost. Originally designed to also house the Office of National Assessments - though they dropped out in 2010 - it was to be the most expensive Commonwealth building project since the construction of new Parliament House in the 1980s.
Advertisement: Story continues below

A spokeswoman for the Finance Department said the latest increase was the result of ''contractors underestimating the extent and cost of their works on this highly complex project''.

She also revealed the December date set for ASIO staff to begin moving in had now been pushed back three months to early 2013.

''The extent of these increases in cost and program need to be viewed in the context of the size, complexity and length … of the project,'' the spokeswoman said.

And the latest price rise may not be the last, with about 60 electrical contractors forced to walk off the site yesterday when their company, Heyday Group, collapsed.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/cost-blows-out-on-new-asio-head-...

ASIO, overstaffed and they still manage to arrest the wrong people resulting in huge compensation payouts.

We don't need them, we've got the fridge magnet that Johnny sent us. If I see men of middle eastern appearance in a white van I know who to call.