Page 4607 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 27 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Government, at the time of commissioning the report, had responsibility for the leasehold system. They thought so much about it that they did not even bother to respond to it. At least this Government has taken the opportunity to respond to it.
Certainly, all the recommendations of that report have not been accepted and put in place. There is no doubt about that; and no-one would suggest that all the recommendations of that report have been put in place. The Federal Government failed to take these issues up, but this Government has been prepared to address a lot of the issues raised. The Government has imposed betterment arrangements which provide a balanced approach to the need to return to the community the unearned increment in the values of leases while at the same time providing reasonable incentives for redevelopment. No previous government, particularly the one formed by those opposite, has been prepared to wrestle with the effects of a decision made many years ago when land rents were abolished and when the implementation of the policy was clearly inequitable to the Canberra community.
Mr Moore today claims that the current Government has not administered the leasehold system in a proper manner. Frankly, this is nonsense when all his public utterances and his stated position clearly support these important initiatives of the ACT Government. In the process of reviewing the leasehold system the Government will ensure that all aspects will be revisited. A recent example of this is the review of the land rent pay-out options which my colleague, the Chief Minister, has already referred to. Previous Commonwealth Labor governments and also the Follett Government allowed this to languish without consideration. The existing policy, Mr Deputy Speaker, was clearly out of step with economic reality and community expectations, and this Government made the decisions necessary to bring a proper balance to the administration of lease rental pay-outs.
MRS GRASSBY (4.37): Mr Deputy Speaker, I feel that Mr Jensen made about as much headway on that as a snake making love to a stick. I think that was about as much as came out.
Mr Jensen: That is a sexist comment, Mr Deputy Speaker. I request that that be withdrawn.
MRS GRASSBY: It might be very sexist, but that was about it; that is about as much headway as he made.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Dr Kinloch: Making love to a what?
MRS GRASSBY: A stick.
Dr Kinloch: A stick, right.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .