Page 1012 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 1990
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ACT Rugby League - Northbourne Oval
MR MOORE: I will ask a question that Mr Duby can perhaps answer instead of making a ministerial statement. In a letter to him, dated 18 December 1989, the ACT Rugby League Incorporated made the following statement and I quote:
For some years now, the ACT Rugby League has enjoyed the use of Northbourne Oval by arrangement with the ACT Leagues Club ...
For some years now! Considering that the lease shows a transfer from the ACT Rugby League to the Leagues Club on 30 August 1989, barely four months earlier, and the League has, therefore, blatantly lied to you, will you now retract the statement you made, as reported in the Canberra Times this morning, which I now quote:
I don't think anyone is trying to pull a swiftie. I think what's happened is a misunderstanding and not an attempt to mislead either the public or the Government.
MR DUBY: I thank Mr Moore for the question. First of all, I refute any suggestion that people have been lying to each other or that anyone has been lying to me. This is quite a complicated issue and it might be worthwhile going into a bit of background to this case.
The Northbourne Oval was leased to the ACT Rugby League for 50 years, commencing on 13 November 1979. The ACT Leagues Club holds a lease for the club adjacent to the oval. Both organisations have approached the Government with proposals to develop the oval for town housing. The former Labor Government called for public comment on the proposal in the form of the publication of the proposed draft variation to the policy plan. That public comment closed on 23 February this year. This Government is now considering those comments before making a final decision on the future of the oval but I would anticipate that, providing all provisions are met, as I have stated in the newspaper today, in the long term, medium density housing will be the final prospect for that oval.
MR MOORE: I ask a supplementary question. Considering that paragraph 4(a) of the lease purpose reads:
... to use the premise only for the purpose of a sportsground, a club and an office as conducted by the Australian Capital Territory Rugby League Incorporated.
Can you tell us whether the ACT Rugby League has actually withdrawn its request for another oval? If so, does this indicate to you that it no longer needs an oval for the purpose that Northbourne Oval was granted in 1979, barely 10 years ago?
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