Page 600 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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Everybody in the Assembly and everybody out there is aware that the package of planning legislation is out still for public comment and that public comment does not close until the end of this month. During that public comment a great many things have been said about the legislation, and I will come to this specific question of the plan for residential leases in a moment. The current policy is that residential leases are renewed automatically and at no charge. But a fee is charged for renewal of commercial leases.
There have been some views expressed publicly, one of which is that it is anomalous to manage lease renewals differently and to charge one group and not the other. That is not my view; it is a view that has been expressed publicly.
Mr Wood: And privately?
MR KAINE: It has not been expressed privately; it has been expressed publicly. I stress that this matter has not been considered by the Government, but since it has been raised by others during the public consulting phase of this legislation it obviously has to be taken into account when we are looking at the final drafting of the Bill. To suggest otherwise would be totally dishonest.
My personal view is that, since it has been asserted that the situation is anomalous, we have an obligation to look at it. I want to stress, however, that I have not proposed a charge for renewal of residential leases. No such proposal has been put to the Government, although there has been some public discussion about it, and in my view it is extremely unlikely that this Government or any other government would consider such a proposal favourably. Having stated my view, I now want to deal with the other question.
Yesterday, in an extended interview on the ABC, I was asked a question on this matter. I want to read into the record what my answer was so that there is no question about it. My answer to the question was:
There is a presumption, I suppose, at the moment, that residential leases are for all intents and purposes freehold land, and if we are considering a premium for a renewal of a lease, then perhaps we should also be looking at residential leases as well. We haven't looked at that up till now. It's a point that's now been raised by the business community that we're discriminating against them. That's a fair comment and I think we should look at the whole situation.
That is the end of the quote - a direct, unequivocal answer to a question.
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