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Canberra in Crisis . . Page.. 115 ..

I should point out clearly that I am talking about commercial leases here; I am not making any reference to residential leases. In the election campaign, when this was stated, I believe that the Liberal Party was getting away from the oft said words of the Chief Minister that hers is a party of commonsense and that this has been proposed purely out of Liberal ideology.

The first point I would make is that there is no requirement to change the system. There are no compelling reasons being presented to do so. Any changes will be in defiance of the long and important history of the leasehold system. I say that there is no need to do this. I have no doubt that the property sector will be pleased by it. And why would they not be? They are getting something for nothing. There is no demand from that sector, there is no passionate campaign, there is no campaign at all, for such a change. Late last year, as Minister, I announced a continuation of the system; that is, that commercial leases approaching 30 years from the renewal date could be renewed for 10 per cent of the unimproved capital value. At that time, the property sector was very interested to know what system might be brought about or whether there were going to be changes to that system which had applied before - which I believe had applied in the time of the former Liberal Government, which found no compelling reason to change the system. The property sector was certainly very interested in what would happen. At the time, they were very pleased with my announcement, which was fairly generous. I think it was overly generous, considering some of the options that were available. I believe that it was good commonsense on my part, and it held as far as possible to the principles of the leasehold system.

Unfortunately, that leasehold system has been considerably bastardised over all the years of administration of the ACT - not under self-government. I refer in particular to the actions of a former Liberal Prime Minister, John Gorton. In 1970, when he abolished land rent, he dealt a very severe blow to the leasehold system. I think that we have another Liberal government here wanting to impose another blow. I emphasise the point that the Government is not bowing to the property sector in doing this. I cannot make that charge against the Government, because there has been no pressure at all. There is no imperative to do this. The Government is simply presenting a free gift to one sector of the community.

Let us look at our leasehold system. I do not believe that the Liberals have done this. In doing so I will reflect briefly on debate in this chamber yesterday, when five new members stood up and expressed their high ideals for their future roles in this Assembly. They were commendable. Let me point out that the politicians who legislated for this Territory also had high ideals, unique ideals, and they were incorporated into the Seat of Government Act. They saw a leasehold system as being very important. In fact, to read the background to that legislation and the long debate that preceded it is an inspiration to people in this Assembly who now have responsibility for legislation. The overriding principle, in this respect, was on leasehold management and other matters - to quote Rolland O'Regan, “a city unmarred and undistorted by exploitation of man by man”. That appears in the book Canberra in Crisis by Frank Brennan, who is well known in Canberra. I think it makes very educative reading.

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