Page 3442 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 17 September 2019
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In the first round of grants, we have seen a big wad of cash go to the CFMEU’s charitable fund; we have seen money go to one of the groups that lobbied hard to get the Chief Minister’s charitable fund; and we have seen money go to the fund that has extremely strong connections to the minister for regulatory services himself.
We the Canberra Liberals trust our community groups to do what they do for the community. We do not support a Big Brother approach. We do not support the establishment of yet another framework, yet more complex systems for community groups to navigate their way through to prove to the government that they are working for their community.
You may think that it is a stretch to say that this bill is Big Brother at work, but it is difficult not to arrive at that conclusion. The bill will require community organisations that have been granted a concessional lease to report to the planning and development authority on the usage of the land in question or give other requested information, and to make available all records relating to the use of the land, irrespective of when the lease was granted.
On another level, this amendment bill is the government admitting that they have stuffed up the land supply in regard to community land. Mr Barr continues to tell us that we are about to run out of land. That is absolute rubbish, but it is abundantly clear that there has not been enough land made available for these purposes. This problem has its roots in long-term planning decisions. To some extent, the bill has been written to find a way of dealing with that mess.
I am sure that those opposite would suggest that there is no mess. I would suggest they tell that to the cultural and religious groups that have been going through a process, some of them for more than five years, to secure their parcel of land. Those opposite would say that there is no problem, but I would ask them to say that to the Canberra Hindus regarding their exhaustive search for a place to worship; the Syro-Malabar Catholics and the Ahmadiyya Muslims, who have been shunted from pillar to post; or Gungahlin’s Islamic community regarding their ongoing struggle for workable car parking space.
All these things have happened under the much simpler current system. This government wants to add layers of complexity, with audits and frameworks. I can see some groups being left in the wilderness for a long time, as they already have been. Yet, strangely, I can see the government’s favourites getting an inside run.
As I said earlier, the auditing provisions are overreach. We simply do not trust the Barr government to administer this new, relatively complex framework in a way that does justice to the community. Whenever discretion is required, you can just about guarantee that favourites will be played and a social agenda will be inserted into planning policy. We will be opposing the bill.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (11.34): The Greens will be supporting this bill and the government’s amendments. This bill is about an issue that the Greens have
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