Land Development Corporation In Limbo

CLP leader Jodeen Carney claims that the Land Development Corporation's website shows that beyond the Waterfront development, the Government has no vision for future development. The Land Development Corporation is the organisation with the responsibility of driving industrial expansion in the Top End.

"According to its strategic plan, it aims to 'recognise real and potential assets and transform them to the highest commercial opportunity'.

"The website shows that the Corporation has no land for sale or for lease. There are no buildings available for sale or lease either. The most recent media release dates back to July 2005,” Jodeen Carney said today.

"There is no information available about the listed current and future projects”.

"The most recently available Annual Report (2004-05) says that the Corporation's marketing and promotions expenditure was $0.

"The last attention that appears to have been paid by the Territory Government to the organisation was a raid on its cash and deposits when Treasury ripped $5.7 million dollars out of its savings leaving it with less than a million back in 2005.

"This Government projects itself as being focussed on business, but with the exception of the Waterfront development a person could be forgiven thinking that the Government is inert. Where is Labor's vision?

"This Government is frustrating to watch. So much is being diverted away from organisations such as the Land Development Corporation. It is the industry that this organisation is meant to develop that will be the fuel for our economic engine into the future and it deserves much more attention.”

2006-09-06