Page 337 - Week 03 - Thursday, 1 June 1989
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statements made by the other three party leaders here today.
The administration of this city must be done properly, and it must be seen to be done properly. Accordingly I think it is, as the Chief Minister says, a good idea that a committee of some kind be set up to clear the air. I support the amendment put by Mr Kaine, and I shall not say anything further on the matter.
MR MOORE (10.57): I think one thing to which we can look forward is a government which is open and which we and the people of Canberra feel is not corrupt. In this matter, to look backwards would be detrimental not only to this Assembly but also to the people of Canberra.
I support the amendment which was put by Mr Kaine and which came out of discussion with the Residents Rally, even though the Chief Minister suggested that there was no discussion on it. I hope that it will give clear guidelines that will ensure that this committee will make the people of Canberra feel comfortable that the various matters that are carried on throughout the Government will be conducted without corruption. There has been enough evidence, as far as I can see, of corruption or some form of maladministration. I think we would prefer to use the term maladministration rather than corruption, and perhaps the term is quite correct.
But even the building that we are in today, the building that is across the road, the Amdahl centre, and the churches centre are examples of what people refer to as maladministration of the leasehold system. It is the leasehold system that in my experience has been most significant in this area. It is my understanding that millions upon millions of dollars have been moved away from the people of Canberra, and when those millions of dollars are not passed into the public purse it means that they have to be made up from other sources, which are, of course, rates and fees.
So the people of Canberra, with the appropriate administration of the leasehold system and without any maladministration of it - let me not even use the word corruption - will ensure that appropriate funds go into the general purse. It is some of those areas of which Mr Collaery gave specific examples today. In mentioning Mr Hedley's name he did not at any stage say that Mr Hedley was corrupt; he pointed to things that involved maladministration.
Let me also refer to Mr Collaery's comments on the effects that such things have on commercial tenants. It is that commercial sector, including our small business sector, that will be significant in employment in this city. We have heard many people talk about how significant it is to our economic base that the commercial area is looked after appropriately and that those commercial operators can be
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