NT Park Handover Costs Questioned

The Central Land Council (CLC) and the NT Government are sending inconsistent messages about how much the parks handover is going to cost Territorians. The Government has said that the cost would be $1 million per year indexing over 99 years. On the 17th of February 2005 the Chief Minister said in Parliament, that the cost would be "$1m from 2010 for each year in rent”.

"Who should Territorians believe is giving the right information, Clare Martin or the CLC?" Shadow Minister for Central Australia, Richard Lim said.

Paperwork circulated by the CLC at a meeting of approximately 200 concerned residents in Alice Springs last night said that the "Those (lease) payments are to be calculated through an independent and fair assessment of land value of the park conducted by the Australian Valuation Office (AVO)."

"The only way these two statements can be reconciled is if the AVO had already done a valuation on the Parks Estate so the over-all value of the parks is already known and the rental set at a million dollars per year."

"This is one of the central issues that surround the handover of the parks."

"If that figure is known, then the Chief Minister is duty bound to tell Territorians exactly how much the AVO has valued the parks at."

"The Government has buried two critical issues in this process;

- the legal advice from the Solicitor General that started this process
- the value of the parks"

"These must be made public so that all of us are aware what the Martin Labor Government has committed the Territory to for the next century.”

2006-04-12