Northern Territory Auditor-General's Office, February 2023 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Tabled Paper 772
Tabled Papers for 14th Assembly 2020 -; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2023-02-14
Tabled by the Speaker
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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Tabled papers
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898837
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898851
Auditor-General for the Northern Territory February 2023 Report Page 75 of 131 Modular Housing cont Due to the delays in commencing the program, the NTG is negotiating to extend the program to 30 June 2024 in order to meet the funding commitments initially proposed by the Australian Government. Negotiated terms will also be required to take into account the increased cost of construction since the project was originally designed. Based on current internal projections, capital budget allocations and construction plans, the project team forecasts completing 1,950 bedrooms which could be attributable to the Australian Government by June 2023. There is no established process to directly attribute a house/bedroom to a specific funding source. As at 30 June 2022, agency data showed 1,229 total new bedrooms had been completed over the life of the program. Delivery of the Plan Overall control of the project is heavily reliant on the project management and co-ordination skills of the General Manager Housing Program Office. This role is a pivotal one, involving liaison with the various steering committees, agency executives, construction supervisors, and regional area directors. The success of the program is dependent on many critical success factors including: The reliability and currency of the overcrowding model; Ensuring that there is current, up to date, reliable and regular reporting of construction progress and projections; Ensuring the contractor projections and construction schedules and reporting of actual progress is accurate; Quality of the building by subcontractors meeting pre-set standards and being regularly monitored; The joint steering committees remaining effective with open and honest channels of communication to all stakeholders; The project team working effectively together; The individual communities continuing to support the program including providing timely feedback on issues facing their individual communities; and The program remaining flexible enough to be able to change the nature of construction to meet individual community needs and varying weather or any necessary changes in underlying infrastructure such as PWC specifications. Governance structure The Our Community Our Future Our Homes Reporting Framework October 2020 applies to the Remote Housing Investment Package and also applies to activities under the National Partnership for Remote Housing (between the NT and Australian Governments). Following the decision to transfer the Housing Program Office to DIPL, a memorandum was developed and agreed between DIPL and TFHC which identified the roles and responsibilities that could be attributed to each agency in relation to Urban and Remote Public Housing Infrastructure. At the time of audit fieldwork, the TFHC/DIPL Partnering Agreement was being finalised. In considering the appropriate allocation of roles and responsibilities, it was agreed that there would be no changes to the governance structures that existed prior to the transfer of the Remote Housing Office. The JSC continues to have strategic oversight over delivery of the NTGs remote housing program.