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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4798 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

organisations use that oval and the fact that the use of that oval by a peak sporting organisation is a matter in which the community as a whole has a very important vested interest. That important vested interest, Mr Speaker, is that the purposes for which that land has been dedicated ought to be the purposes for which the land is used. It is quite plain to the Government, and I hope to other members, that the land is not used in that way at the moment, has not been used in that way for a number of years, and because of the litigation now under way will not be used in that way for probably some time to come yet. Perhaps years is an overly pessimistic view, but I think it is not unlikely that this matter could still drag on for years if it were not for some action by the Assembly.

So, Mr Speaker, the Government intends that power should be conferred to acquire this land, using processes of compensation akin to the Lands Acquisition Act processes but not with the limitations of time and rights of appeal which are given rise to under the Lands Acquisition Act process. That is not to say that the Government does not intend to fairly compensate the party or parties which have an interest, whether legal or otherwise, in the land. I refer members particularly to clause 3 of this Bill and to the definition of the word "interest". It is not the intention of the Government to deprive people of those interests or not to compensate them for those interests.

It is the intention of the Government, however, to ensure that, whatever the resolution of that conflict about the historical right of access to or the historical benefit of the ownership of that land, for the immediate and foreseeable future the land be used for the peak sporting organisation for rugby league in the Territory, that organisation being the Canberra and District Rugby League. By that I mean not the whole of the land, but that part of the land which is effectively a sporting oval with associated buildings such as change rooms and grandstands. That part of the oval which is a licensed club should continue to be used as a licensed club by those who operate that licensed club at the moment. The exclusivity of those two things, which I think is the case at the moment - the mutual exclusivity - should be put to an end, and it should be possible for those two uses to operate on that site, albeit on either side of a fence going through part of that site.

Mr Speaker, the Government is well aware that the Canberra and District Rugby League, the Raiders, do not have an operational base within the ACT at the present time. They operate at present, I understand, in a training sense, from Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan. They have recently, I understand, divested themselves of the club that they operated at Mawson. The Government is anxious to ensure that the Raiders, the Canberra and District Rugby League, have a base to operate from within the Territory which reflects their status as the Canberra Raiders. Mr Speaker, I hope that the legislation that the Assembly will pass today will achieve that outcome.

I also hope that the result of the passage of this legislation will be that it does not need to be used. I can advise the Assembly that I had some contact with the ACT Leagues Club and they have indicated their desire to come and speak to me early next week. I indicate to the Assembly and to the broader community that the Government would be very willing to negotiate the resolution of this dispute about that land without employing the power which the Assembly will, I trust, confer on the Government today. It is my desire that the Government use that negotiation process to resolve the matter, rather than use legislation.

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