2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission into "Australia's greatest peacetime disaster" was complex, demanding and highly-sensitive. The Corrs team, selected to instruct the six Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission, was an integral part of the investigation into the deaths of 173 Australians and the destruction of thousands of buildings and homes. Over 18 months, 155 days of hearings, 434 witnesses and two expert panels, Corrs coordinated the gathering of evidence, analysed the evidence and assisted in the drafting of submissions and recommendations.

The Royal Commission's terms of reference were very broad and extended to investigating the causes and circumstances of the fires, analysing preparation for and responses during and after the fires, and making recommendations as to what should be done to reduce the risks of such a tragedy occurring again.

The Interim Report, delivered on 17 August 2009, made 51 recommendations and was the culmination of six months' work, which included four weeks of community consultations, examination of more than 1,260 submissions and eight weeks of public hearings.

The final report, presented on 31 July 2010, was an extensive four volume report making 67 recommendations on Victoria’s bushfire safety policy, emergency and incident management, fire ground response, electricity-caused and deliberately-lit fires, planning and building, land and fuel management, organisational structure, research and evaluation and monitoring implementation.

The Corrs team worked tirelessly reviewing and drafting aspects of the report to ensure it was delivered on time.

Gold Coast Rapid Transit

The Gold Coast Rapid Transit Project, a light rail linking key centres on the Gold Coast, is a landmark infrastructure project in Queensland.

Corrs was involved from the outset of the project and advised the Queensland Government on all tax related issues associated with the project including income tax, GST, stamp duty, land tax and council rates.

The team worked closely with Corrs’ projects lawyers to help Government develop the required level of certainty needed in this critical area of the project.

Victorian Desalination PPP

The Victorian Desalination Project represents the largest public sector investment in water infrastructure in Australia’s history. The development of the seawater desalination plant at Wonthaggi in southern Victoria was announced as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in July 2009 with a capital cost of approximately $3.5 billion.

Corrs acted for the State of Victoria and advised the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) Capital Projects Division on the project. The project required Corrs to fully integrate its legal team with the technical, environmental, financial and insurance advisors to DSE Capital Projects Division.

Corrs had a lead advisory role in assisting the State to develop the funding solutions for the project, conducted in the most adverse financial markets since the Great Depression.

The solutions were developed in real-time as the Global Financial Crisis was unfolding, with information available to bidders, financiers and the State changing rapidly.

The project also achieved contract close earlier than the announced timetable.

Through the competitive bidding process, intensive interactive sessions were undertaken with both bidders in parallel, resulting in two fully documented proposals prior to selection of a preferred bidder and execution of documents immediately thereafter.

Corrs was also fully involved in the development of the commercial structure for the project, public hearings and applications for key approvals (including the Environment Effects Statement), assisting in briefing government decision makers, assisting in evaluating and advising on procurement and negotiating finalised project documentation.

Corrs received a Financial Excellence Award at Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s 2010 National Infrastructure Awards for its work on the $3.5 billion Victorian Desalination Project. Projects were judged on financial engineering, structuring and innovation, as well as the scale, complexity, size and difficulty of the financial structure.

The project has received extensive industry recognition with 12 international and national awards including Global Deal of the Year 2009 and Global PPP Deal of the Year 2009 at the Infrastructure Journal Annual Awards, Asia-Pacific PPP Deal of the Year at the 2009 Project Finance International Awards and 2009 Deal of the Year by Asian-Counsel.