Page 237 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 February 2016
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Owners who desired to pursue the land rent option have been tricked by this government. Whatever the final financial situation of the territory is, it is unfair to trick Canberrans by offering them hope and then changing the rules on them. That is what the government have done. The government have changed the rules on them. The government have pulled the rug out from underneath them.
I have already touched on the very sad case of Christina Pilkington in Ainslie. As reported in the Canberra Times, she was paid $735,000 for her Chisholm Street home in Ainslie in October 2014. Now the home has been demolished, the government has offered her the land back, albeit with a contaminated garage on it, for $725,000. So she sold a house and land for $735,000 and now she can buy back her land and the contaminated garage for $725,000. She felt tricked by the land rent changes after being assured the rules would not change. She has been tricked. She has been tricked by this government.
The family had hoped to go back to their community. They had hoped to go back to their block. And they were banking on that land rent policy. And now the government has changed it and not only have they missed the opportunity to buy another house in the last six months but they also cannot go back to the neighbourhood where they were entrenched as a family. This is wrong. She said it was David versus Goliath. They can make up the rules as they go along, and there is no oversight or appeals process.
We are trying to give some hope to these families that have been adversely affected by this policy and we are hoping those opposite, including Mr Rattenbury, will see the light and have some compassion for the people whom they are severely affecting.
This is yet another instance of this government being tricky and changing policy and planning rules on the run. Once again the government has made secret changes to the planning system without warning people. This is totally unacceptable. The planning system should be characterised by certainty and fairness, the very things that people bank on. This policy change is unfair and inconsistent and it should be disallowed.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Racing and Gaming and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (12.04): I will first address Mr Coe’s outburst on the trickiness of bringing on a motion different from the one that he has lodged—a very similar one on the notice paper. Let me advise the Assembly that my office contacted Mr Coe’s office on Tuesday and asked if he was going to bring his disallowance motion on. We were told that he would not bring it on. What this motion does is allow a land rent scheme for Mr Fluffy block holders—
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order!
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