KDN gets the nods to build the Gungahlin Penal Battalion's quarters

It’s going to accommodate Shared Services staff moving from Callum offices (which are appallingly bad and not fit for purpose). Also, I would assume, the remainder of the Commerce and Works Directorate of which Shared Services is a part.

This office was put in Gungahlin as an election commitment. I’m not sure if any of the Assembly said they were opposed to ACT workers going to Gungahlin although I’m happy to be proved wrong.

This however, is not the government office block that is proposed for the carpark to the south of the Assembly building and was put on hold while the election was on.

Incidentally, given the luddites have sworn they will pull the NBN when they get in next year, leaving Gunners as one of the few places with optic fibre pipes, siting the IT part of the government there seems like a practical idea to me.

rosscoact said :

gooterz said :

What safe guards are in place to make sure that government aren’t getting kickbacks for this?
developers are still allowed to make political donations right?

So, what are you saying? That the bid process is corrupt? That the public servants that ran that process are corrupt? The developers are corrupt? Or that the politicians are corrupt?

I’m just trying to clarify your insinuations there.

Usually when you move things cost more money. When you have to make a new building things cost more money. When you ship all your employee’s out to the boondocks things cost more money because the good employee’s leave.

The idea of having it all in one centre was so that it saves money. If its not going to save money then that is the corruption.

I know that at least DET used to be in Tuggeranong. Now its going to be in Gungahlin? Massive shift to the workers that weren’t even consulted.

If the government is going to build light rail from gunners to Civic then why not choose civic, at least then by the time its completed the people of Gungahlin will have the means to get to work.
I dont see people in tuggeranong travelling to civic by car only to catch a light rail to Gungahlin.

If you put all the jobs in Gungahlin then whats the point of the light rail?

On the other hand its a 15 year lease, which assumes that ACTPS wont be working from home like the commonweath public service.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/it-pro/government-it/public-service-teleworking-target-of-12-20121111-296sb.html

gooterz said :

What safe guards are in place to make sure that government aren’t getting kickbacks for this?
developers are still allowed to make political donations right?

So, what are you saying? That the bid process is corrupt? That the public servants that ran that process are corrupt? The developers are corrupt? Or that the politicians are corrupt?

I’m just trying to clarify your insinuations there.

What safe guards are in place to make sure that government aren’t getting kickbacks for this?
developers are still allowed to make political donations right?

Well stupid decisions like this are all part of the course of this same s*** as the last one government. Planning to move what is the central support for IT, HR and accounting for most of the ACT government from a central location to one of the most northerly out of the way.

They would have been better to invest the money so shared services could actually provide something remotely close to good service, rather than the bulls*** they currently provide, rather than giving them more of an excuse as to why they can’t do their job.

They keep complaining that 70 percent oftuggeranong work in civic. It would make more sense to put it there to even out Canberra.

Gov Co just seem to want to kill Southside seemingly out of spite. Yes we don’t vote for you, but we have reason not too.

It would only be decent of Katy and Co to provide numbers of where these 500 workers presently live.

Alternatively split the office into two and divide the Act in half.

Of course you could always take the three years it’s going to take to build it to transfer to a different directorate?

I regularly drive Gunners to Tuggers and vice versa. Outside of peak traffic hours it takes 26 minutes from Kambah to Gungahlin town centre but obviously the Parkway is slow during peak.

Monaro Highway will be completed by then so should take less time to travel that way.

I know that doesn’t answer your concerns about public transport but there’s a bus every 15 minutes to and from the town centre so perhaps not the end of the world. Certainly very inconvenient, I wouldn’t take a job in Tuggers for that reason.

ThrowawayAccount said :

As a Shared Services staff member, who lives in the deep south, I can tell you I am less than happy with this decision for many reasons. First and foremost, it turns a 20ish minute commute on public transport to work each morning to a 40 minutes plus each way drive. Sure I could continue to take public transport, however that 20 minutes becomes a best case of two busses and 1 hour 18 each way (thanks Google transport) – hardly a productive use of my time. If I wanted a 1 hour plus commute, I would live in Sydney or Melbourne. So suddenly I have to drive to work, because of our rubbish public transport system. Sure, parking is currently free, but as soon as ACT Gov Co. realise they have 500 extra staff with cars driving to Gunghalin town centre, I guarantee they will start charging for whatever parking there is there. Once I am at work, I (as well as many other) Shared Services staff have to regularly visit clients – located within other Directorates. From our current location we are reasonably centrally located – we can get to most places in 30ish minutes. We have been advised that if we are to attend meetings it is the agencies preference we use public transport. So that 30ish minute trip to go visit a client now takes over an hour. How is this a smart use of a public servants time, on the tax payers dollar? Shared Services also maintains a fleet of Gov cars, which are pretty solidly booked out every day. I guess they could increase this fleet from 7 or 8 cars to double that amount. However, once again, this is not a good use of tax payers money, and I can’t imagine our remaining Greens MLA would be happy with all the extra cars on the road.

Numerous Directorate staff have been very vocal in their opinions against this move, however those at the top of the tree have not listened to these opinions. In fact, off the top of my head, I believe there has been precisely zero consultation with staff to gauge their opinions of this move.

I guess for every argument there is a counter argument. The people who are currently working for Shared Services and live in Tuggernong will go off and find new jobs, and those roles left vacant will be filled by people who live in Gungahlin.

This process has certainly made me feel like a more valued member of the Shared Services team…oh wait, sarcasm doesn’t work on this does it…

So, in summary, what you’re saying is that it would suck to be out at Gungtanamo Bay.

Tell us something the local residents don’t already know. Even for those living out there and working in Civic, it’s a one hour door to door commute at peak hour if using public transport. If you happen to arrive in time for a bus, that is. But more traffic lanes would be a waste of bitumen really. Gungahlin is a local indigenous word meaning ‘bottleneck’.

As a Shared Services staff member, who lives in the deep south, I can tell you I am less than happy with this decision for many reasons. First and foremost, it turns a 20ish minute commute on public transport to work each morning to a 40 minutes plus each way drive. Sure I could continue to take public transport, however that 20 minutes becomes a best case of two busses and 1 hour 18 each way (thanks Google transport) – hardly a productive use of my time. If I wanted a 1 hour plus commute, I would live in Sydney or Melbourne. So suddenly I have to drive to work, because of our rubbish public transport system. Sure, parking is currently free, but as soon as ACT Gov Co. realise they have 500 extra staff with cars driving to Gunghalin town centre, I guarantee they will start charging for whatever parking there is there. Once I am at work, I (as well as many other) Shared Services staff have to regularly visit clients – located within other Directorates. From our current location we are reasonably centrally located – we can get to most places in 30ish minutes. We have been advised that if we are to attend meetings it is the agencies preference we use public transport. So that 30ish minute trip to go visit a client now takes over an hour. How is this a smart use of a public servants time, on the tax payers dollar? Shared Services also maintains a fleet of Gov cars, which are pretty solidly booked out every day. I guess they could increase this fleet from 7 or 8 cars to double that amount. However, once again, this is not a good use of tax payers money, and I can’t imagine our remaining Greens MLA would be happy with all the extra cars on the road.

Numerous Directorate staff have been very vocal in their opinions against this move, however those at the top of the tree have not listened to these opinions. In fact, off the top of my head, I believe there has been precisely zero consultation with staff to gauge their opinions of this move.

I guess for every argument there is a counter argument. The people who are currently working for Shared Services and live in Tuggernong will go off and find new jobs, and those roles left vacant will be filled by people who live in Gungahlin.

This process has certainly made me feel like a more valued member of the Shared Services team…oh wait, sarcasm doesn’t work on this does it…

Gungahlin Al said :

But the land is built and ready to go, so it should be feasible that 500 employees will be injected into the town centre within about 18 months. And it is right next to the town centre, as opposed to several blocks away like the land the LDA went and released prematurely behind the emergency services off Gozzard Street.
Surely a boon for local businesses?

So what was parking like around that spot in Gungahlin? I’m predicting less spots for day time shoppers.