Dear Members of the Gungahlin Community Council,
I am sorry I am unable to be there with you this evening, but I would like to take this brief opportunity to update you on my election commitment to see a Commonwealth Public Service Department or Agency move their offices to Gungahlin to help boost the local economy.
Last week I met with the office of Minister for Finance and officials from the Department of Finance who are responsible for managing Commonwealth office spaces. They briefed me on the process they are undertaking to make this move happen and updated me on their progress.
The first stage of the process involves auditing all the current departments and agencies to assess which are the most appropriate to be moved based on several factors including number of employees, office space requirements, and current leasing arrangements. The other aspect of this first stage is to identify potential sites in the Gungahlin town centre for a new office space to be constructed to accommodate the selected agency.
The Department of Finance officials informed me that they are nearing completion of this first stage, having narrowed down the number of potential agencies to be moved and identified several potential sites in Gungahlin for the new offices.
While for probity reasons I am unable to provide more detail at present, I understand this first stage should reach completion in the coming months. The Department of Finance informed me that they anticipate formal negotiations with the chosen agency will begin by mid-year, at which point I expect to be able to provide more concrete detail.
I am proud to have secured an election commitment from the Government to move a public service workforce to Gungahlin for the first time to grow the town centre and boost the local economy. I will continue to work hard to see this election promise fulfilled.
Yours sincerely,
Zed
Senator the Hon. Zed Seselja
Liberal Senator for the ACT
Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs
Hi Zed,
What is the progress of this move? This is a smart move to reduce the traffic to Civic and rest of the Canberra. Ideally if we move more workplace near to Gungahlin, we don’t need a Tram.
As tram is real, does the office spaces coming near to the tram line?
Thanks
We are chasing Zed for an update … maybe we’ll hear something in the budget ? 🙂