Review into ACT law courts expansion will not be publicly released

Chief Minister Andrew Barr and officials from the ACT's Treasury said the full post-implementation review could not be released as there was "frank and fearless" advice provided which had to be kept confidential.

The territory government paid PricewaterhouseCoopers $102,000 to undertake the review of the territory's first public-private partnership.

The review is a 150-page document that was presented to the ACT's cabinet last month.

Mr Barr said the advice provided in the review from stakeholders was commercial-in-confidence and this was to ensure there was more robust engagement on their part. He said a public review would not cover the substantive issues.

"We will take the appropriate action in relation to ensuring that these reviews are robust ... that advice that is provided that is commercial-in-confidence or 'frank and fearless' does not find its way unnecessarily into the public arena," he said in an annual reports hearing on Tuesday.

"Given we have only had two [public-private partnerships] in the history of the ACT, I think this approach is appropriate and cabinet will consider what, if anything, is released in due course."

Opposition chair of the public accounts committee, Elizabeth Kikkert, questioned why the review would remain private, saying that Canberrans would want to see the complete review.

"Chief Minister, if there is a review being done on public property, I think it is likely that a lot of Canberrans would like to see the full scope of the review rather than partial review processes," Mrs Kikkert said.

"I'm really interested as to why part of it is not being published ... it's either you have something to hide or there is something private that cannot be discussed in public."

Mr Barr said it was the latter reason.

The expansion of the justice precinct was plagued by construction delays, with the build delayed by 17 months. It was due to be completed in late-2018 but did not open until 2020.

The government signed a contract with Juris for the expansion of the courts, as part of the contract Juris is responsible for the upkeep of the facility for the next 25 years. The consortium was also responsible for the design, construction and financing.

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The ACT will pay the building off over that time, with the total project net cost put at $250.4 million in 2016 dollars.

Juris is a consortium which includes Laing O'Rourke Australia Construction, Macquarie Capital Group Limited, Programmed Facility Management and Lyons Architects.

The acting executive branch manager of the ACT government's Infrastructure Finance and Reform, Hamish Stephens, provided some insight into the findings of the review, which he said would also be outlined in a "sanitised" version to be presented to other directorates.

Mr Stephens said there were recommendations related to process resourcing. The review found the project successfully achieved the objectives and while it was delayed it did not impede on court proceedings.

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