Page 5071 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just a moment, Ms Le Couteur. Can you stop the clock for a minute? Members, if you are going to have conversations, will you please leave the room, otherwise will you please sit down and remain silent? Thank you. Ms Le Couteur.
MS LE COUTEUR: Thank you. There are certainly many positive aspects to the changes in Civic, but the increasing number of empty shopfronts, combined with the increasing mallification of Civic, is a clear problem. I have been surveying some of the businesses in Civic to see what kinds of issues they have. Some of the small business owners asked me to establish an inquiry into the increasing domination of QIC in Civic. As it was only last month that we established an inquiry into the supermarket competition issues it seems that another inquiry would possibly be excessive. But I note there is scope within that inquiry to look at some of these issues and I hope that will happen.
There is an increasing number of empty shopfronts in Civic, especially in the City Walk area and, ironically, the building called Centrepoint may well be near the geographic centre of retail Civic but it also houses the highest proportion of empty shops in Civic, making visitors to Civic feel that they are in a derelict part of the city.
These are interesting times for Civic, which currently has the highest office vacancy rate in the country, at 14.2 per cent. This has resulted in a Civic which has whole empty buildings such as the AFP building just north of Veterans Park, which gives a distinctly under-loved look to the area. Section 63 has also not yet been developed as they have not found a tenant, despite having paid $92 million for the site in 2007. We obviously need incentives, which the government has committed to through remissions to the lease variation charge, to encourage building owners of low grade empty offices to convert them to residential, in turn increasing the number of residents in the area.
Also of note are the blocks on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit opposite the Sydney and Melbourne buildings which were put to auction last year but failed to sell. How much this is due to the general global financial situation and how much is due more specifically to the state of Civic and the current oversupply of both office and retail space is unclear but, either way, it does not seem to be the right time to be approving an increase in such real estate.
One point I have had fairly unanimous feedback on through my survey is that businesses, and the public generally, are very keen to see an increase in residential space in Civic. It will be better for the vibrancy of Civic, business turnover in Civic and community safety and it will enable more people to easily walk and catch buses to work.
Despite the increasing number of empty shops, the Canberra Centre operators currently have a development proposal with ACTPLA for a further 11,000 square metres of retail space, as well as a residential tower and an office tower. It does not make sense to me that we are increasing our overall retail space while at the same time allowing buildings to have a growing number of empty spaces in neighbouring blocks and tenancies.
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