A tender to paint CLP Minister Marie-Clare Boothby’s electorate office and “move furniture” was put out to the market at a cost of between $500,000 and $1 million, government records show, which the Minister claims she shut down over the huge price tag, but the tender was active for at least a week before being removed, the NT Independent can reveal.
The CLP has criticised the previous Labor government for “wasteful spending” and “pet projects”, but it appears the government was moving ahead with the tender before becoming aware the NT Independent was looking into the matter. The cost of the office fit out is the same amount of money that Ms Boothby pledged for Legal Aid NT on Wednesday to address its resourcing pressures.
Bottom line, didn’t happen.
Come on Chris you nw this had nothing to do with the minister, name the public servants involved.
Are we short of news this week, NT Independent Editor?
I subscribe to enjoy your exposures of SERIOUS issues & wastage, not such minor stuff, which the Minister shut down herself quickly.
We all know the delay between idea ( to shut down) & action within the bureaucracy, 1day, 6 day … stop nitpicking.
@Aloysuis Seekamp What part of the Tender Range of $500,000 to $1 million for painting and moving some furniture are you not surprised at???
I got most of my house painted internally for $4000. Given the verbal estimate of $600,000, thats 150 times more than my 3 bedroom house internal paint cost!
This would have gone ahead if the media where not sniffing about!
BTW I am hearing small firms who have NTG contracts have not been called for work for months!! Obvious Government Cut Backs at the Departments but not by the Ministers!
For a minute there I thought there was going to be an announcement about an actual initiative to invest in creative industries which would support employment and provide urgently needed communication solutions – like for health n stuff – but then I reawoke in the NT. Where a prospective mil for an office repaint sounds legit to someone. But creative industry based employment pathways do not.
Did you all miss the part about the proposed cost, including relocating the office, which would necessitate a new lease and potentially incur costs to break an existing lease? As it turns out, the Minister nixed it on the grounds it was too much money to justify moving her office to a location within her electorate.