Mr. David Gunning:

Back at that time, the site certainly closed for the Government-mandated period. The Senator may remember there was a situation where the contractor was very slow to come back to work after that period, but eventually coming back perhaps a month after the approved period. The Senator can probably imagine there are claims in and around that and there are claims for additional delays and costs associated with, shall we say, restarting post-Covid shutdown. That is the subject of a number of claims and ongoing dialogue.

On how I would characterise the claims, they are predominantly for what are called “extensions of time”, which is the contractor is claiming delay for various reasons. I will not go into the exact numbers, but ten claims account for 80% of the entire quantum claimed. That is where the primary focus is from the development board’s point of view on the big money side of things.

On whether BAM was involved in various Government schemes, that is not within our remit. That is a separate issue between BAM and Government. I am not aware of the details of that so I cannot comment on that. However, I presume, like many companies, it continued. Certainly, while the site was closed, the back office work of BAM continued - the procurement and all of the activities happened, other than having workers on-site.

BAM did an excellent job of managing the return to work and all the Covid and health protocols. It was a very good example of how to do it properly. I know we have our differences on things, but I would like to acknowledge its excellent work in that particular area.