The failure to spend money allocated for the security upgrade at Parliament House was incompetent budgeting, a Senate estimates hearing was told on Monday.
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Labor's Penny Wong, a former finance minister, was critical of the planning to spend $108 million on the security measures.
She was told only about 2 per cent of the money would be spent in the current financial year
"Did no one think it was a rather ambitious amount to ask and get in a single year," she said.
The security upgrade includes a 2.6-metre-high perimeter fence at the ministerial wing, gatehouses and bulletproof glass, which will begin on July 9, with construction expected to take 23 weeks.
It is believed further physical security enhancements are under consideration including widespread installation of bulletproof glass and more security fencing, possibly screening the Senate and House of Representatives wings.
Senate president Stephen Parry said there were extraordinary circumstances for the request by him and the Speaker for the money.
He said he would discuss with the Finance Minister the need to retain the money in the next financial year.
"The capital rollout is a hell of a lot slower than anticipated for a variety of reasons including heritage, and that money will not be lost, it just means it hasn't been spent … It's better to be prepared," he said.
"Additional complications arise when you do capital works in Parliament House that doesn't arise in any other part of the building sector to my knowledge.
"There were extraordinary circumstances and we won's see that again."
Senator Parry said he had had "many discussions" with the Finance Minister about the project.
Senator Wong said the issue related to the financial competence of those administering the project.
"To only spend 2 per cent is pretty extraordinary," she said.
"It is incompetent budgeting to say we want $108 million and you spend $1.7 million at this point in the cycle," she said.
The Senate finance and public administration legislation committee is conducting a separate inquiry into the security upgrade.
The inquiry was established when Independent senator Nick Xenophon and the Labor opposition combined to refer the question of parliamentary security to the committee for urgent investigation.
Labor Senator Ludwig questioned what would occur if every minister requested that amount of money to be spent in one financial year but spent only a faction of it
"If everybody did that and the Finance Minister agreed to that, I think we know what would happen to the Finance minister … It seems inconceivable," he said.
He said he was flabbergasted by the underspend.
"I just can't believe it, I wouldn't have got away with it as a minister," he said.
