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Thursday, 27 March 2014
Page: 3341

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) (10:07): I move:

That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Reserve Bank of Australia, National Banknote Site, Craigieburn, Victoria.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is the sole issuing authority for Australian banknotes. The key objective of the Reserve Bank in meeting this responsibility is to maintain public confidence in Australia's banknotes. The Reserve Bank has embarked on a program to upgrade the security of Australia's banknotes. The Next Generation Banknote project will progressively replace currently circulating banknotes over the next decade.

The current storage, distribution and processing capacity of the Reserve Bank Sydney, Melbourne and Craigieburn sites is insufficient to enable the bank to store and issue the new series of banknotes and to accommodate banknote growth in the medium term. The Reserve Bank proposes to build a national banknote site on vacant land owned by the bank at Craigieburn in Victoria. The estimated cost of the proposal is $72 million, plus GST, and includes all construction costs, site preparation, infrastructure, management design fees, contingencies and escalation.

The Public Works Committee has reviewed the project and reported back to the House and the Senate. In its report, the Public Works Committee has recommended that these projects proceed. Subject to parliamentary approval, work is proposed to commence in early 2015 and to be fully operational in early 2017 to enable a transition to the Next Generation Banknote series and meet the banknote storage, distribution and processing operations for at least the next 25 years. With that, I commend the motion to the House.

Question agreed to.