The cost of the State Government’s consulting and legal bill to keep Griffin Coal operating has surpassed $3 million.
The updated figure was revealed during question time in Parliament last week when shadow energy minister and South West MLC Steve Thomas asked how much had been spent on the consulting and legal services since 2023.
According to Stephen Dawson, answering on behalf of Roger Cook, the cost sat at more than $2.9m paid to five agencies since the beginning of last year.
The majority of the cost comes from $1.27 million paid to KPMG, with $561,000 paid to Ad Astra for consulting and $609,000 paid to Ashurst for legal advice.
The total includes $264,000 to Sternship Advisers, however in June a State Government spokesperson told the Times the firm had been paid close to $500,000 to date and were no longer engaged.
With this figure including payments before 2023, the total payment would reach at least $3.14m, compared to $2.18m in June.
Dr Thomas said the ballooned figure was a result of mismanagement.
“The consultants are the only people making money from this disaster, and despite that, there is still no solution to the problem,” he said.
“It is so bad that three of the five consultant companies are still currently engaged and running up even more cost.
“When it comes to the final cost your guess is as good as mine.”
Mr Cook admitted on Thursday the Griffin Coal situation was not a comfortable one, but one which required careful planning.
“We’ve been working with consultants and with the players to make sure that we have line of sight in terms of their financial situation so we can make prudent decisions in the interest of the WA taxpayer,” he said.
“Now, we’re not particularly comfortable with the situation, but it’s not a situation of our choosing, it’s just simply a situation we have to resolve until we can get out of that particular power station.”
In August, the State Government was forced to reveal the total of its legal fees after initially keeping them confidential.
The lack of transparency caught the eye of WA Auditor General Caroline Spencer, who told media the Government were denying access to routine information to an unusual degree.
As a result, the figure was revealed in Parliament later that week which sat at $543,670 paid to Ashurst but has since risen a further $60,000.
More than $77m had gone into keeping the power station operating through until June 2026 as part of the $220m funding allocation announced in December.
