ABC News can reveal South Australian taxpayers paid more than $20 last financial year fighting a legal dispute with the builder of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The State Government says the ongoing dispute was first raised in 2018 but details about the case are confidential.
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00:00During construction, the $2.3 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital was branded Australia's
00:07most expensive building.
00:09Almost eight years after it opened, the hospital continues to cost taxpayers.
00:13SA Health has told ABC News it spent $20.3 million last financial year alone on a long-running
00:20legal battle with the hospital builder.
00:23This all dates back to before the hospital opened in 2017.
00:27The project was beset by cost blowouts and delays.
00:30According to court documents, in 2018, the hospital builder, Hanson Youngken, and CPB
00:36contractors entered into private arbitration proceedings with CELSUS, the consortium involved
00:41in the construction and operation of the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
00:45A second, concurrent arbitration is underway between CELSUS and the state government.
00:50The builder alleges the government conducted itself wrongfully throughout the hospital
00:55and that the consortium involved in the construction and management of the hospital, CELSUS, didn't
00:59ensure the government met its obligations.
01:02The government has denied the allegations.
01:05Last year, the builder took the government to court in an attempt to access copies of
01:09confidential cabinet documents and ministerial briefings to help its case, but it wasn't
01:14successful.
01:15While SA Health has confirmed the $20 million legal spend last financial year, what isn't
01:21yet clear is how much the government has spent in total on the dispute since 2018.
01:26Hanson Youngken, CPB contractors and CELSUS have declined to comment on the matter, saying
01:30the arbitration is confidential.