Page 1820 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2006
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Do such people honestly think that trading in slaves would be socially responsible if the clock were wound back and slavery was legal again? Compliance with whatever laws happen to be in place at the time is a case of giving unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. Whether one’s moral compass is guided by biblical exhortation or humanitarian principle, having given unto Caesar is where one’s moral obligations begin, not end.
The International Finance Corporation refers to corporate social responsibility as “the commitment of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development by working with their employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their lives in ways which are good for business and for development”. The American Law Institute’s principles of corporate governance model say that, even if corporate profit and shareholder gain are not thereby enhanced, the corporation in the conduct of its business may take into account ethical considerations that are reasonably regarded as appropriate to the responsible conduct of business.
Consolidated Builders cannot claim that governance constraints stand in the way of them doing the right thing. Their shareholders do not need the moral opprobrium that this decision is lumping them with and their corporation does not need the dark stain on its reputation that a decision to go ahead with this deal will bring. I call on them to walk away from this deal with their heads held high and their hearts firmly in the right place.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Planning) (11.47): Mr Speaker, the government, as the Chief Minister has indicated, will be supporting this motion today with the amendment that he has circulated. The purpose of that is to recognise that the outcome we all sincerely want to try to achieve is one which sees the residents of the long-stay caravan park in Narrabundah able to stay in their homes. The nature of the ownership and governance arrangements of the caravan park obviously is very fluid right now, and the Chief Minister is seeking to address a range of issues.
I want to put on record my concerns about the way in which the lease for this property was managed by the previous government and the previous minister. Mr Speaker, it is normal with a concessional lease, particularly one of this nature, for there to be what is called a consent to transfer clause. Consent to transfer simply requires that the minister must consent to any sale to a third party. It is designed to protect leases such as this which are granted at less than market value and where there is clearly a public interest that needs to be continued to be protected, regardless of who is the lessee.
The failure of the previous Liberal government and the failure of the previous minister, Mr Smyth, to provide for a consent to transfer clause has led to the situation we are in today. A consent to transfer clause would have required Koomarri to seek the permission of the territory to sell the lease to another party and for the territory to agree and therefore for the territory to be satisfied that the person to whom the lease was proposed to be transferred was genuine about running the facility on an ongoing basis as a place of accommodation for the people who currently live there.
But that did not happen. No consent to transfer provision was made. There was a limited process requiring Koomarri to maintain it for a set period, but consent to transfer would have been a more enduring mechanism. Indeed, that was the mechanism that was used
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