Page 4599 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 27 November 1990
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Mr Speaker, this provides me with an opportunity to express some views about the superficial positions constantly adopted by Mr Moore on this issue. He skates across the surface. He never really gets down to tin tacks. I do not really know what it is that he does not like about the leasehold system, although he attributes this to some problem on the part of the Government. I have heard over many years from people like Mr Moore that the administration of the leasehold system is inefficient, that it is allegedly corrupt, that it does not take sufficient account of the needs and interests of the community. Well, my long experience in the affairs of the ACT, Mr Speaker, contradicts all of that, and it has led me to one basic conclusion, and that is that in every case where maladministration of any kind has been alleged an examination of the particular case shows that the matter has been handled properly, within the law and according to specified public policies. If you do not like the public policies and you do not like the law, you should set about changing it, but that is not what Mr Moore is on about. He asserts that we are not appropriately administering the system, whatever that means. It is the superficial approach. He is not quite sure what he means and he hopes that if he says it enough he will strike a point where he is actually on track and not off it.
Mr Connolly is the only member of the Labor Party present during this debate; so I will address my comments to him. I suggest that Mr Connolly should bear in mind, before he leaps in behind Mr Moore - - - (Quorum formed) I would just like to draw the Labor Opposition's attention to a point before they jump in and get on this band wagon of Mr Moore's. I recall that Mr Moore expressed similar criticisms of their administration of the leasehold system during their unhappy, but fortunately brief, period in government. I recall as well that the then Labor Government did not concede on any occasion that Mr Moore was right - not once.
Instead, like me today, Mr Deputy Speaker, they responded to the detail of each particular allegation - and today he has not made any particular allegations - and were generally able to allay any major concerns. I suggest that the Opposition, the Labor Opposition at least, might consider that period of history carefully before leaping on Mr Moore's band wagon today because he will lead them into trouble somewhere along the line.
I am particularly proud of the fact that we in the Government have been able to address in a positive way some shortcomings in government policies concerning the leasehold system which our predecessors found just too difficult to deal with. We have built on and improved a package of planning and leasing legislation, which will be going out for further public comment in the next few days, and my colleagues in this debate this afternoon will outline our reforms in relation to the payment of betterment tax and the administration of rental leases
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