Page 4277 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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(viii) report back to the Assembly by June 2018; and
(b) suspend all development activity in the Red Hill environs until the Committee report and government response have been received and publicly available.
I am pleased to bring to the attention of the Assembly today the community concerns around a proposal at the Federal Golf Club. The Canberra Liberals hope that the ACT government will ensure that any development that is undertaken at the Federal Golf Club is of sound quality and respects the current built nature and the current environmental concerns around the area. Today I would like to talk on a couple of issues: why the Federal Golf Club is important from a planning perspective; what the current planning concerns and issues are; the involvement of community groups, including the Canberra Community Clubs group and the community panel process; how development applications are usually handled; why I have brought forward this motion today; and what I am calling on the government to do and why.
It is probably important to address the context of this by providing some background. Since 1998 the Federal Golf Club has been exploring ways that the golf club can diversify and ensure continued cash flow into the years ahead. In 1999 Territory Plan variation 94, which would have allowed development at the golf club, was disallowed by the Assembly as it was inconsistent with the Territory Plan because of the impact on formal and informal open space areas.
In 2007 the then planning minister, Mr Barr, promised to consider the proposal again as there were considerable financial concerns surrounding the Federal Golf Club and their ability to navigate their way through the prolonged drought. However, in 2011 Minister Barr rejected the proposal, stating that he had:
… formed this view after careful consideration of the advice and opinions of a range of government agencies, environmental and community groups.
In December 2014 the Federal Golf Club proposed a seniors living development on their Red Hill land. Most of us probably know the Federal Golf Club is positioned on the southern side of Red Hill. It is bounded by the suburbs of Garran and Hughes. It could be an important area for suburban infill, but it is in a bushfire zone.
Over the past 19 years the community and the Federal Golf Club have had their differences with regard to future development. This is not a secret. Concerns raised by community members have been many and varied. They include the fact that section 66 is a highly sensitive and significant area, located on the slopes of Red Hill, that the Red Hill area contains remnants of the significantly endangered red gum and yellow box woodland, that the proposed development could have a detrimental impact on recreational activities in the area and an impact on local amenities, including lack of road access.
While the Federal Golf Club have been calling to be allowed to develop their current lease so that they can further drought-proof their golf course, upgrade their clubhouse, which is a bit rusty and outdated, and provide financial security into the future, that
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