PM&C's A$10m-a-year Barton lease faces questions before 2033

With about six years left on the lease, agency heads usually begin weighing where to base their people, so the question of whether PM&C stays or goes is live.

It also reports that PM&C now needs fewer desks than a year ago, after staff left a second office near Parliament in 2025-26.

The numbers

According to The Canberra Times:

• PM&C’s leasing cost is about A$10 million a year for about 1,000 staff, which the paper says is 15 per cent above the federal government average.
• That works out at about A$10,000 a year per head, against a benchmark of A$8,500 for federal agencies.
• The purpose-built building is 15,000 sqm, and PM&C staff moved in during 2007.
• The fitout, covering joinery, ceilings, doors and workstations, was proposed to cost A$23 million.
• A building refresh in 2019 added lounge chairs, breakout rooms and a library for staff.

The paper says the building was state of the art when it opened, with an on-site cafe, full-height tinted glazing and two basement parking levels.

What’s next

Nothing has been announced. The paper ties any decision to the February 2033 expiry. The report does not say whether PM&C will renew, relocate or consolidate, and no decision on the lease has been published, so the future of the building remains open.

The paper adds that the building has held that standing for two decades, with the department’s roughly 1,000 staff based there since 2007.

For another Canberra proposal near the Parliamentary Triangle, see our report on the Forrest Italian Club site plan, which Region Canberra says would replace a carpark used mainly by Services Australia Finance employees.