Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government continues to ensure that the Commonwealth's property portfolio is appropriate to its expected needs and maximises value for taxpayers. 

Operation Tetris is on track to realise savings of $300 million over 10 years, after the Government launched a coordinated approach to managing surplus property in 2015.

Since the national roll-out, Operation Tetris has successfully filled over 60,000 square metres of vacant and surplus office space in the ACT and a further 7,000 square metres in other capital cities.

The results of the 2015-16 Australian Government Occupancy Report highlight the early achievements of Operation Tetris between 2015 and 2016 including:

• a reduction in the median work point vacancy rate from 20.9 per cent (2015) to 13.8 per cent (2016); and
• a reduction in net lettable area leased by the Commonwealth from 3.13 million square metres in 2015 to 2.89 million square metres in 2016.

The Government will continue to seek efficiencies through Operation Tetris on an ongoing basis to continue to deliver further value for taxpayers, with the next focus on savings outside Canberra.

The Government has appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as a Strategic Adviser on property, to assist in identifying further property savings.

The 2015-16 Occupancy Report can be viewed on the Department of Finance’s website.