The council was asked at its April 28 meeting to accept a quote for underground services to tie in with the redevelopment.<\/p>\n
Saltire Infrastructure had put in a quote for the construction of a private sewer pumping station, and reticulation and firewater main at the golf course.<\/p>\n
The project includes the decommissioning and removal of the current septic systems, which will be replaced by a private pump station discharging into the Water Corporation sewer network along Jackson Road.<\/p>\n
The quote was higher than the city expected but a consulting engineer said it was still good value \u201cgiven the current market conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
City staff had asked the council to find the extra $132,000 needed by taking it from other non-urgent parts of the golf course budget, which the council backed 5 votes to 4.<\/p>\n
A motion from Cr Tim Houweling that nine conditions be attached to allocating the extra money, including looking at what other works could go over budget and a review of the city\u2019s arrangement with Clublinks, was defeated 4-5.<\/p>\n
I assure you councillors, working in business, when it starts off at $132,000 it moves to $250,000.<\/p>\n
Councillor Tim Houweling<\/p>\n
Cr Houweling said he did not want to stand in the way of the quote being awarded but wanted to review the costs and arrangement for the golf course project as he was concerned the extra cost could be the \u201ctip of the iceberg\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I spoke to two or three councillors who have left council, they all confirmed they had always understood and been told that 19.8 million was the totality of the cost of the project and that there were not likely to be any cost overruns that may be visited upon the council,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI assure you councillors, working in business, when it starts off at $132,000 it moves to $250,000.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ca882e035f3eed8beaf8a56766f1183b43b40d60.jpg\")
Camera IconA major transformation of one of Perth\u2019s most popular public golf facilities is officially under way, with the $19.8 million redevelopment of Collier Park Golf Course officially breaking ground. Credit: City of South Perth<\/p>\n
\u201cNext time you tell your ratepayers that you can\u2019t afford to spend something, you need to be able to explain why it was so easy for you to adopt an expense of $132,000 on this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his motion was lost, Cr Houweling said there was not enough detail in the report and found it \u201cbewildering\u201d if others thought there was.<\/p>\n
Mayor Greg Milner said Cr Houweling\u2019s proposed conditions were \u201cover-reach\u201d and his alternative motion had included approving the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really understand the argument there,\u201d Mr Milner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a period of well-known volatility when it comes to the prices of works such as these.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be better if there wasn\u2019t that increased cost, but if we\u2019re going to conduct business, I fear that\u2019s just the reality of the market at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy mayor Andre Brender-A-Brandis agreed some of Cr Houweling\u2019s conditions went beyond the scope of what the council was being asked to consider.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nine additional directions on the administration to undertake what should be for a straightforward process to engage a supplier to undertake some work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe value of that work is $132,000 in comparison to the total capital construction of the project of 19.8 million. That represents 0.67 per cent. So that\u2019s not even one per cent of the total cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there were already monthly reviews of spending and mid-year budget reviews.<\/p>\n
Cr Jacqueline Raison said while it was valid to review the project, she wanted to give city staff time to answer earlier questions about it and some of Cr Houweling\u2019s conditions were \u201ccrystal ball gazing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s more than 50 questions that were put on notice, so for me I\u2019d like to establish some of the factual basis because I haven\u2019t got the benefit that other councillors have of tracking this project since its inception,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy preference is to look forward rather than look back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cr Blake D\u2019Souza said $132,000 was not much compared to the cost of the entire project but it could be the start of more cost over-runs.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2496671f6fdb8ace6345e15ce417f66d63f9474a.jpg\")
Camera IconA major transformation of one of Perth\u2019s most popular public golf facilities is officially underway. Credit: City of South Perth<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot has changed since council approved the initial project and I think it\u2019s fiscally prudent to review these revenue models,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t hold (the sewer upgrades) up, but I think it\u2019s a good chance for council to scrutinise the assumptions a bit more and ensure that the ratepayers are getting good value for money from this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting CEO Anita Amprimo said she was not aware of any issues that would prompt a review of the golf course redevelopment business case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe model and the business case were done at a particular point in time. It\u2019s probably fair to say that if they\u2019re done at a different point in time, they may come out with a different answer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The golf course redevelopment is centred around a new 48-bay double-storey driving range with technology in every bay.<\/p>\n
Alongside the driving range, the redevelopment also includes a new restaurant and cafe, four padel courts, a function and event space, an all-abilities playground, and a revamped retail space. The existing 27-hole course and mini golf will remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of South Perth council has rejected a call to review its involvement in the redevelopment of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[917,1774,152,335,149,1961,464],"class_list":{"0":"post-6036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-perth","8":"tag-central","9":"tag-local-government","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-perth","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-southern","14":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}