Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Apparently the jobs of 1,000 people in and around the township of Deniliquin are under threat as a consequence of a decision of this government. I am not referring to the new workplace legislation, although I could because I have certainly fielded many inquiries from concerned employers in my electorate of Gilmore. We are predominantly a tourist zone and have many seasonal workers. A decision to standardise awards means that costs will go up, especially for casuals. And we all know that, when labour costs go up, there are inevitably cost offsets as employers struggle to maintain profit levels.

The fact that jobs are created by employers seems to be lost on the other side of the House. It is all very well imposing costs on business but if the consequence is that it drives it offshore or simply strangles it then the motives driving such a decision should be stringently questioned. In fact, one local call centre employer call centre has warned that he will only cope with this latest imposition by going offshore. Gilmore will lose another 30 jobs but still the government does not care.

The same sentiment that is jeopardising 1,000 jobs in Deniliquin drives the decision by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts to stop forever the development of a patch of private land in the electorate of Gilmore. The land is the Heritage Estates, known as a ‘linen estate’. People speculatively bought the land 20 or 30 years ago in the hope that approval would eventually be given for its statutory subdivision. That was the setting that brought Minister Garrett to Jervis Bay, where the Heritage States are located. Exercising his ministerial prerogative, he declared that no development would be allowed given the enormous environmental significance of the site. There was no discussion or meeting with the ratepayers or local council, yet he met with local environmentalists. So, immediately, his decision has effectively disenfranchised the owners of the land.

The commercial value of the land is now zero. Nobody wants to buy it because it is useless for anything. The Heritage Estates are a poisoned chalice. But the minister thinks that this scrubby land is so critically vital that it has to be protected. There has been no thought given to the money that has been lost by the many hundreds of people who have invested in these blocks and for many years paid council rates because they were obliged to do so. Yet the council was prepared to negotiate a lesser approval to come to a compromise. As far as I can tell, these people will probably still be liable for rates each year. Is this a fair outcome? I think not.

The shadow minister for the environment, Greg Hunt, visited my electorate shortly afterwards and he at least spoke with the many residents affected—unlike the minister, who seemed to have been entertained by his supporters. I was not even asked to come along despite the fact that I have been representing these people for so many years and possibly would have had something to contribute.

Mr Hunt made the very sensible observation that if the government were so serious about the value of this land, they should simply buy it from the landowners at a fair price. If the government have effectively sterilised the private use of heritage estates then I call on the government to do the proper thing and buy this land. If it is so pristine, gift it to the national parks for people to enjoy; do not just leave it there to be used as a rubbish dump and a place for feral animals to roam.