It's a major opportunity!
We have just discovered that the Commonwealth's Public Works Committee chaired by Tony Zappia will be reviewing The Australian Tax Office's proposed move to Festival Plaza Tower 2, and submissions are needed by Wednesday 24th June. Only two days away!
Evening all,
if you can possibly submit something - even a few words - it would help hugely. Numbers are significant.
Submissions can be made here:
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Public_Works/ATOAdelaide
(there is an upload submission button on the right of the screen, follow the link, you will have to make a My Parliament account, all pretty easy)
The relevant terms of the review are to review:
- the stated purpose of the proposed work and its suitability for that purpose
- the need for the work (it's a 15 year-old building they are leaving- see the image above- att. Giuseppe Tauriello)
- the cost-effectiveness of the proposal
('The work' would be the relocation from the CBD's Franklin St, to the tower)
Here are some points that could be made:
Australians are grappling with a cost-of-living crisis. Government is urging restraint in public spending. So why is the Australian Tax Office preparing to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on moving office in Adelaide?
The proposed relocation from a near-new building to Adelaide's most expensive office tower is expected to cost taxpayers around $73.4 million in fit-out costs alone, according to The Advertiser.
On top of that, the move could lock taxpayers into premium rents worth millions more than they need to every year.
The ATO is set to not only move in in 2027, it will be as anchor tenant in the contentious Festival Plaza tower project—a development widely criticised for occupying what was intended to be Adelaide's civic square and for the manner in which the site was made available (with a ground lease of $1 per year for 100 years).
The involvement of the ATO is almost certainly what’s enabling the project to proceed.
The proposed occupation of Festival Plaza Tower 2 by the Australian Taxation Office as anchor tenant is the pivotal step that could enable what many regard as the most damaging urban development outcome in Adelaide's history.
How can a major public institution play such a central role in a project that places a vast private office tower in the middle of Adelaide's only civic plaza? The consequences are serious and long-lasting. And the Tax Office should not be enabling this serious damage to the city and its attractiveness.
Will this move make the ATO's work better/easier, or would a re-fit-out of existing space be much more cost effective, with possibly a favourable new deal done on rent, and with with less disruption of work?
It's a short turnaround, but short concise statements are fine, even a polite but simple registering of discontent would be useful. This is a great opportunity! Please make the effort!
Very best,
Rob, for the Alliance
Robert Farnan
Convenor | Save Festival Plaza Alliance
O435007799
Facebook.com/savefestivalplaza
savefestivalplaza.net