Page 1291 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 29 March 2017
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(vii) what was the average unimproved value of the site at the time of sale; and
(b) regarding Dickson, Section 34, Block 30:
(i) the planned future use of the block;
(ii) the proposed lease for the site;
(iii) the sale contract, if it exists, and the amount paid, or to be paid, and the proposed settlement date;
(iv) all the valuations undertaken for Dickson, Section 34, Block 30;
(v) who in Government authorised the sale; and
(vi) will the Government allow the block to be used for residential use.
In the interests of time, I will keep my remarks brief. In 2015 the Canberra Liberals brought to the public’s attention a scandalous deal in Glebe Park regarding the valuation, subsequent advice and huge sum paid for a block that may well have had a $1 million liability attached to it as well. This deal was not an isolated one, as was revealed in the Auditor-General’s report. In that document she said that transparency, accountability and rigour had been lacking in the processes used by the Land Development Agency for acquiring the three sites and the two associated businesses considered in the audit and that, without these, the integrity and probity of the acquisition process could not be demonstrated. However, it seems that these sites were not isolated ones. It seems that there are others.
All Canberrans should be very worried about the integrity of this government. Whether it is the Glebe Park site, the Tradies site, the bike hire site, the paddle boat site, these deals all stink, and Mr Barr has been responsible for this agency throughout. Mr Barr has allowed cowboys to run the show and recklessly spend millions of dollars on very questionable deals. Either they were rogue deals and rogue operators and Mr Barr was negligent or he was complicit throughout and the LDA was simply doing his bidding. We need answers.
The facts are simple. The Labor government secretly pumped $3.9 million into the CFMEU-aligned Tradies club in December 2014. If that is not scandalous, I do not know what is. Of course there are many other associated questions about this deal. How did it come about? Why were there only three days between the exchange of contracts and the settlement? Why did the ACT government want to buy this site? Who initiated the sale? How did the Labor government deal with the conflict of interest that they so obviously have with this purchase? It seems they did not deal with that conflict of interest; they simply hoped that nobody would find out. How did the government arrive at the valuation and what are the terms of the lease which apparently is in place at the moment with the Tradies and/or CFMEU?
Further to this, it is reported that there is an associated land deal with regard to section 34 block 30 Dickson as well. That is the car park next to the Dickson Tradies site. If
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