5 July 2022
ETU calls on Queensland government to intervene to stop Energy Queensland’s (EQL) $1 billion waste
on the Digital Enterprise Building Blocks (DEBB’s) Computer System
The Electrical Trades Union is calling for urgent state government intervention over a failed Energy Queensland computer system project that is costing Queenslanders $400,000 per day in cost blowouts.
The end-to-end DEBB’s computer system was allocated $239 million from the energy regulator for implementation, but the ETU estimates the program costs have blown out to over $1 billion and counting.
ETU assistant secretary Stuart Traill said the project has been mired in cost blowouts, failed solutions, conflicts of interest and massive delays.
“This project which covers everything from purchasing to payroll was supposed to go live last year but has been constantly delayed. The project leader is a contractor who owns a labour hire company that has provided significant resources. There is no incentive for them to ensure the system finishes on time and on budget whilst they are making a fortune the longer it’s delayed. It stinks to high heaven and should be investigated” Mr Traill said.
“To make matters worse they want to implement the same payroll system that caused the Queensland Health debacle twelve years ago.” He said.
Traill said at a time when Queenslanders are feeling the pinch due to cost of living blowouts including energy costs the last thing the state needs is reckless waste drving upward pressure on electricity bills.
“These issues have been ongoing for years, it’s time for the state government to step in and hold the EQL Board and CEO accountable for this mismanagement and fix it now so Queenslanders can have confidence that their tax dollars are being spent on projects that deliver value for money, not feathering the nests of contactors.”
ENDS
For more information, please call Stuart Traill on 0488 225 625 or Andrew Irvine 0429 535 860.