LANDGATE OFFICES —
SALE
1043. Hon NEIL THOMSON to the minister representing the
Minister for Finance:
I
refer to the Midland Landgate building sale, which the Minister for Lands, John
Carey, MLA, described in March 2022 as a fantastic outcome.
(1) Why was the
lowest value scenario used in the sale of the Midland Landgate building when
the building was already tenanted by the state government?
(2) What is the
minister doing to review the transaction, given the information provided by
Hamish Hastie on WAtoday?
(3) Will the
minister also seek a review of market-led proposals more broadly to ensure
governance can be improved?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Finance.
(1)–(3) The
sale of Landgate was an open market process, through a problem and opportunity
statement, or POS. The process and assessment of financial outcomes was run by
an independent committee and the outcome was subject to rigorous independent
assessment.
As part of Finance's 2021–22
financial audit, the Office of the Auditor General undertook a review of the
Landgate transaction. There were no findings related to the lease negotiation
process, as well as financial modelling that supported the sale and leaseback
transaction.
The article on WAtoday makes a number
of assumptions and does not take into consideration a range of important
factors, including lease incentives, base building upgrades, fit-out and other
associated costs. The state government carries out regular reviews of the
market-led proposals process.