[LINK] Alston's $4m website

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Alston's $4m website
James Riley
APRIL 03, 2003  
The Australian
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6227857%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
 
TAXPAYERS have been stung for more than $4 million, after a project to
rebuild the website of communications and IT minister Richard Alston
suffered a massive blowout from its initial budget of $600,000.

Private sector internet design firms described the $4.018 million,
uncovered in Senate estimates, spent by Senator Richard Alston's Department
of Communications, IT and the Arts (DCITA) on its latest website as
"outlandish" and "outrageous". The revelations come three years after the
collapse of the dotcom economy and the end of an era of big spending on IT
projects.

A spokesman for the minister said last night: "I don't have any information
to hand on that. I really wouldn't be prepared to comment."

Responding to questions from opposition IT spokeswoman Kate Lundy, the
department revealed that when the website was originally conceived in late
1999, it was budgeted at $600,000. By the middle of 2000, that budget had
already been increased to $1.6 million.

... etc

-- 
We didn't actually overspend our budget. The health Commission allocation
simply fell short of our expenditure. 
-- Frank A. Clark 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at austarmetro.com.au