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The Hon. HENRY TSANG: Will the Minister for State Development advise the House about a move by Optus from North Sydney to North Ryde?
The Hon. MICHAEL EGAN: I can advise the House that Optus will amalgamate a number of its Sydney operations onto Australia's largest commercial campus in North Ryde by 2007. The new $350 million Optus headquarters will take 2½ years to build, with the construction phase likely to create up to 1,600 building jobs. The new facility will be owned and developed by Stockland. About 6,500 Optus staff will move to the new headquarters, with an additional 500 new jobs to be created within the next three years. These are people involved in information technology, customer services and call centres, sales, research and development, and marketing personnel. The company's executive team, along with important professional groups such as engineering, human resources, legal, finance, strategy and corporate affairs, will also move to North Ryde.
The Optus consolidation is a ringing endorsement of this State's information communication technology sector, which employs 100,000 people and accounts for around 41 per cent of the industry nationwide. I note that a few years ago, the Leader of the Opposition in the other place, Mr Brogden, gave a ringing endorsement of another State when he was climbing the ladder of the Liberal hierarchy as chairman of the Opposition's information technology and telecommunications committee. On 27 April 1998 Mr Brogden told the Australian Financial Review:
Victoria leads Australia in information technology and NSW lags very badly behind.
He was wrong.
The Hon. Duncan Gay: We have only got your word for that.
The Hon. MICHAEL EGAN: Victoria only employs 60,000 and accounts for around 31 per cent of the national industry.
The Hon. Duncan Gay: His comments are six years old. Yours are contemporary.
The Hon. MICHAEL EGAN: I keep track of everything that the Leader of the Opposition in this place and the other place say. The Optus Chief Executive Officer, Paul O'Sullivan, informed the Australian and Singapore stock exchanges about the company's move to North Ryde on Tuesday this week. Mr O'Sullivan said:
… that Optus was pleased to be partnering with Stockland and to have had the support of the NSW Department of State and Regional Development to bring this project to fruition.
Mr Sullivan said on Tuesday that "infrastructure had been a major attraction for Optus at the site". According to the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, the Macquarie Park corridor currently employs more than 29,000 and is growing by 800 jobs each year. Optus will add significantly to this growing area. The eight-hectare commercial campus will have a gym and a child care centre, as well as a shopping arcade. It will receive a 4½ star rating from the Sustainable Energy Development Authority. The six discrete buildings that make up the campus will be set in parkland, and will each have a floor area of 3,000 square metres. I congratulate both Optus and Stockland on this significant venture and significant investment, and I wish them well for the future.