Page 5649 - Week 17 - Thursday, 5 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
For some reason, the Leader of the Opposition wants to separate the two, which simply is not logical and certainly is not acceptable to me. When I hear people in the business sector saying how badly off we are in Canberra through having a leasehold system, it makes me think time and time again of what is the most profitable property trust in the country and has been for years. It is the Capital Property Trust based on the leasehold system in Canberra. Perhaps everybody else should adopt our system so that their businesses can be just as profitable. I should say, before sitting down, that I accept that a lot of the credit there is due to the people who run the Capital Property Trust. I accept that and in no way mean to demean their contribution as well.
MR HUMPHRIES (12.56): Mr Kaine's amendment has the effect of providing that businesses in the ACT operate on a similar basis to businesses in other parts of the country. That is the fundamental reason why we ought to be supporting this amendment. It is about putting business in the ACT on a reasonable, sustainable and comparable basis with other businesses in the nation.
There is quite clearly, Mr Deputy Speaker, a problem with the inability of people from outside the ACT to translate their understanding of what happens in other places to what happens in the ACT. It seems to me that we serve our community very poorly if we do not ease that confusion and provide for a similar basis for commercial and residential leases to operate.
Mr Moore draws a distinction between commercial leases and residential leases. He seems to think that people are entitled to some certainty and security in respect of residential leases, but in respect of commercial leases, on which not only they but others who work on those leases depend for their livelihoods, they ought to be treated differently. I do not understand that at all. It seems to me that there is an even stronger case, surely, for providing that certainty in the case of commercial leases, just as there is for residential leases. It is about providing a secure basis for business to operate in this Territory.
Some of us getting immersed in this debate might forget that we are talking about strengthening the ACT's land system as a basis on which to make this community prosper - not just in terms of having attractive landscapes and beautiful settings for our homes and so on, but in making it a viable place for people to live and work - and that requires, in my view, very clearly, that we give commercial tenancies the same kind of security that one would enjoy in other places in this nation.
Mr Moore: It is not the commercial tenancies.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .