Page 1568 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 27 September 1989
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Mr Deputy Speaker, the assets of the Territory included at one stage forests of the Territory, and some of our Commonwealth assets included softwood forest production. Recently, we lost a proportion of that inventory belonging to the Territory. The Deputy Chief Minister, as a consultant to the Federal Government, was aware of the grant of acreage at and near the Stromlo Forest for a fish farm; and one would be interested to see in a compilation of the property inventory what was done in respect of the estimated loss of $59,000 of softwood production and what is the ongoing loss to the Territory of that revenue as a result of that softwood production area having been forever removed from the inventory.
I also note that as part of the Commonwealth inventory the ACT Government is intending to create and handle its own insurance except that it is having a major consultancy, according to the budget overview document, carry out a study of how to insure the assets of the Territory against damage. Of course, it is not indicated in that document what type of damage to the assets of the Territory the Government could get insurance for, but that could include impact, fire and damage, and of course it is not clear to us whether the Government is intending to insure the Territory against the damage it will do itself to our assets by virtue of its own actions.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister) (5.00): Mr Speaker, as Mr Kaine pointed out in his opening remarks on this motion, it is not a new issue. It is one that he has raised on a number of previous occasions and one on which I have previously addressed this Assembly at some length in my remarks on the Government's financial management strategy. I refer to my response on 23 May and also to a detailed address in this Assembly on 22 August.
Mr Speaker, I think it is important that we understand as an assembly - and I am happy to give a brief summary - how assets are transferred from the Commonwealth to the ACT. If the Opposition Leader or, indeed, Mr Collaery would like to pursue this matter in more detail then I would refer them to the self-government legislation, and in particular to the ACT Self-Government (Consequential Provisions) Act, which does set out in the statute the actual technique for transfer of assets from the Commonwealth.
The principal provision in that Act for the transfer of assets and rights to the ACT is section 5. This section requires that the Commonwealth Minister responsible for the territories transfers those assets and rights used for ACT functions. So, while there is agreement in principle to the scope of the transfer, there are some concerns by this Government, particularly relating to the retention by the Commonwealth of certain parcels of land which have no clearly defined national purpose.
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