Page 488 - Week 02 - Thursday, 22 February 1990
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MR MOORE: I do not need the extra time. I am quite happy to make my speech in the normal time.
That concept of the leasehold system is very simple and that concept is that we, the people of Canberra, own the land. That has a wide range of ramifications and advantages for the people of Canberra, advantages that they have over other people in other cities that do not have the advantage of the leasehold system.
Let me say that in raising this matter, I have no intention of attempting to use it to denigrate either the current Government or the previous Labor Government. Rather, I want to draw attention to some of the difficulties that have happened prior to both governments, with maladministration of the leasehold system. I want to look at some of the situations that are current and the potential problems that are likely to arise in the future without a very tight management of the leasehold system.
With that in mind, I welcome the draft planning legislation. We can look carefully at it and hope that for the good of Canberra we can work together and get the very best possible planning legislation - hopefully the best possible planning legislation in Australia. It should be possible because it should be easier in Canberra because we are fortunate enough to have a leasehold system. One could draw attention particularly to the central business district because the situation is clearer there. The value of land under the leasehold system is greatest not to the person who rents it from us, the people of Canberra, but to the people of Canberra.
When I hear people arguing that there is a block of land, perhaps with some trees on it or some green area, but the block of land is worth $xm and therefore we must exploit those dollars, then we really must weigh up what is in the best interests of the people of Canberra. The advantage we have is that as we are all the owners of the land we can make a decision that it is in our interest to have a park or a pool or a play area, or something to that effect, rather than to have a conventional development of the land.
There are many previous examples of problems with the leasehold system. There has been a series of editorials in the Canberra Times over the last four or five years in which the leasehold system has been explained and attention drawn to the risks. Some of the areas that have had attention drawn to them are the Uniting Church's centre over on Barry Drive, the Amdahl building, which is just across the road from us - and I shall come back to that - and, of course, smaller developments such as Rocky Knoll. Let me draw attention to an editorial in the Canberra Times from September last year. Let me manage without that editorial. Some of the problems with those buildings are that in the - - -
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