Overview

• Michele Bullock told a House economics hearing the refurbishment will cost more than A$1 billion and said her confidence in the final figure is low.
• The project has climbed from an initial A$260 million plan to A$500 million in 2023, with current working estimates reported around A$1.2 billion.
• Bullock said the 1960s headquarters contains four to five times the asbestos of comparable buildings, making removal the first and most costly task.
• The contamination has turned a refurbishment into a near full rebuild, requiring the structure to be stripped back to its steel frame before reconstruction and fit-out.
• The RBA has introduced new governance stage gates for stages 2A and 2B and has yet to detail costs for those phases as parliamentary scrutiny intensifies.