Liberal leader Jeremy Hanson will call on the government on Wednesday to immediately halt plans for a new public service office building in the city, saying it should first analyse the office space already available.
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Mr Hanson said the analysis should include all commercial existing and planned office space suitable for ACT public service accommodation. And he called for a business case outlining the costs and benefits to the budget and the economy of leasing existing accommodation instead of building and leasing a new office block.
The government first announced plans to build a $432 million office block on the site of the car park outside the ACT Assembly building on London Circuit in 2011. That plan was scrapped in 2012, when it decided instead to pursue a privately built office block which it would rent.
In July, it called for expressions of interest from the private sector for two options: a new building, or a refurbishment of an existing building. Expressions of interest close on August 20.
The government wants 40,000 square metres of office space for 3400 public servants in a building no more than 10 minutes' walk from the ACT Assembly, a stipulation that will severely limit options. A new building on the London Circuit car park might well include a ministerial wing, given the government is now looking to move ministers out of the Assembly building to make way for eight extra members at the next election.
Mr Hanson said commercial office vacancy rates in Canberra had increased from 12.9 per cent to 13.6 per cent, the highest since 2010. Vacancies outside the city centre had increased from 13.7 per cent to 14.5 per cent, the highest on record. In the second half of this year, another 24,500 square metres of new space would be added to the market.
Mr Hanson said a new government office building would add to the oversupply of office accommodation.
But Treasurer Andrew Barr said on Tuesday that now was the ''perfect time'' to go to the market for interest in building the block, given the high vacancy rates. Given the large number of property owners keen on a tenanted building, they were likely to offer very good rates, he said.
If the market was as desperate for new tenants as it seemed, the government might well save money by moving out of more expensive accommodation into the new block, Mr Barr said.
