Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary that in this week of all weeks we find before us a piece of legislation that is quite squarely dealing with the legacy of the Whitlam government. The concept of regionalism and to build significant regional centres was part of the legacy and vision of the Whitlam government from the beginning.

It was always intended that the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation would get to a point where it would be abolished. It was set up for the purpose of providing the investment, providing the injection, with the intention that over time assets would be sold down and, eventually, we would get to this moment—for that to have arrived in this particular week is extraordinary.

At the beginning of the week, I acknowledged the member for Indi was asking a question about acknowledging the boundaries of the previous Medicare Local that stretched across state boundaries to cover both Albury and Wodonga. The concept of these two great cities, either side of a state border, being able to work in a way that state cooperation instinctively has not gone to, has been one of the great parts of the story of Albury-Wodonga.

The concept that was originally put that we would end up with a centre of 300,000 people was not realised, but we did see a centre that started at 38,000 people go to something in the order of 100,000 people. While the project may not have reached the full level of ambition of the Whitlam government, there is no doubt whatsoever that today we can celebrate Albury-Wodonga as being a great success.

Gough Whitlam first raised the idea for the regional development projects in Albury in a speech he gave in Sydney in 1969. He then visited Albury in 1970 for a Rotary conference. I understand he stayed at the Travelodge that night and later boasted that that speech took him from the Travelodge to the Lodge. It then formed part of his Blacktown campaign speech in 1972, in which he said:

A national government which cuts itself off from responsibility for the nation's real life, a national government which has nothing to say about cities, has nothing relevant or enduring to say about the nation or the nation's Future. Labor is not a city-based party. It is a people-based party, and the overwhelming majority of our people live in cities and towns across our nation.

He went on to say:

A Labor Government will have two over-riding objectives: to give Australian families access to land housing at fair prices, and to preserve and enhance the quality of the national estate—the environment.

And then said:

We will set up a Commonwealth-State Land Development Commission in each state to buy substantial tracts of land in new areas being opened up for housing and to lease or sell at cost fully serviced housing blocks.

Today, the parliament is still dealing with the legacy of that 1972 campaign speech.

Upon taking government, a new department and a new function for the Commonwealth was established. We had a Department of Urban and Regional Development, with the great Tom Uren as the minister. This started the Albury-Wodonga National Growth Centre project in 1973, which ultimately became the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation on 21 May 1974, with the hope for it to be a model for similar schemes elsewhere.

The reform program for regional development produced results through direct grants to local government bodies around Australia. Grant programs included flood mitigation, urban renewal, leisure and tourist facilities, and building sewerage systems in unserviced urban areas. Under the Department of Urban and Regional Development, the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation was established on 21 May 1974. Out of this we not only found a vision for Albury-Wodonga; we found the Commonwealth government taking responsibility for entirely new areas of policy that the Commonwealth had previously not touched.

Today, we not only put down a marker for the great growth that occurred in Albury Wodonga; we also acknowledge today that the principles of regionalism and the principles of obligations to people who live in cities and suburbs are something that would be a function of the government of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The technical issues that we deal with today in terms of the technicality of the bill are a bit less exciting than the principles and policy objectives that we celebrate. Effectively, we are at the end of a process which has been happening ever since the 1970s.    The government announced in the 2014-15 budget that it intends to abolish the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation, and this bill will cause that abolition, with the remaining functions to be performed by the Department of Finance.

The Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation is responsible for selling a range of residential, industrial and commercial land in the Albury-Wodonga region. While we were in government we were proceeding with the orderly sell-down of much of that land, and the government has been continuing with that. I think we all understand the common-sense of good public policy as to why you need to sell that in a staged fashion, and the government has been doing that. We are now at the point where the land parcels are now few enough that we are able to abolish the corporation itself and allow the Department of Finance to conclude the remaining parts of the work.

The Howard government announced in 2005 that the corporation would exit its land development activities and sell its remaining property assets over what would be approximately a 10-year period, and both sides of politics have made sure that we have kept to that time line pretty much to the day. In February 2013, the previous government extended this period to sell the remaining assets through to June 2021—which is part of the orderly process I referred to. This was to ensure that land sales did not negatively impact the region's land market through dumping blocks of land on the market to meet a particular time line. One of the worst things that could have happened for the people of Albury-Wodonga would have been for this to have been rushed and, as a result, for people to have lost value in their land, for there to have been a long-term impact on their ultimate sale of land and potentially an immediate impact on the equity they held over their assets. We continued to facilitate the eventual abolition of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation through continued land sales, such that the amount of land held by the corporation reduced from 6,387 hectares in June 2005 down to 1,086 hectares in June 2014.

The bill before the parliament today abolishes the act itself, which facilitates the abolition of the corporation. The bill also makes consequential amendments to the Freedom of Information Act and a number of other acts to take into account the abolition of the corporation. The bill also includes provisions to ensure the effective transfer of activities from the corporation to the Department of Finance. This is an appropriate measure for the government to have put in place.

As I said, the corporation was always intended to wind up. We should not view today as being somehow the end of the Albury-Wodonga project. Rather, today is the end of a particular phase of that, which was the phase of direct and intense Commonwealth engagement as part of a vision which was not fully realised. Many of the hopes for Commonwealth departments to find themselves relocated did not get realised in the way that the Whitlam government had hoped and, sadly, the great dream of a university that would straddle both state borders resulted in New South Wales establishing one university and Victoria establishing the other on either side. So there were some opportunities which we did not get to, but no doubt what we have seen an extent of regionalism and very much a benefit to the nation and to the people of Albury-Wodonga which should see the parliament stand proud.

Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2014. I would also like to acknowledge my colleague the Minister for Small Business: how lovely it is to have you in the House. In his book The experiment: Imagining the Albury-Wodonga National Growth Centre,Bruce Pennay states, 'On its instigation in 1973, the Albury-Wodonga National Growth Centre experiment was hailed as a novel and imaginative project.' It was a pilot scheme that was extended to influence the urban settlement patterns right around Australia. It was a 'bold venture', a brave attempt, to solve a longstanding problem. It involved three governments working cooperatively on an 'exciting adventure'.

Today we are about to abolish the corporation; but, before we do that, it is important to take the time to look back on the history and purpose of the corporation. Most importantly today, I would like to acknowledge all the good work done by key stakeholders and individuals in the life and deeds of the corporation. Also, as a parliament we must talk about how we can continue the grand vision of those parliamentarians of the 1970s.

The story of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation is a political story. It is also a community story and, for me, it is a very personal story. Albury-Wodonga is my local community and its growth and development have in many ways matched mine. I was 21 when it was established and, 40 years later, it is with a degree of sadness that I stand in this House and make this speech, because, in saying goodbye, I am not convinced that we have clarity on the way forward.

As the previous speaker mentioned, on Tuesday in this House we acknowledged the work of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. We spoke of his vision and his commitment to regional development. Together with Tom Uren and Malcolm Fraser, he saw the need for urban policies and complementary regional policies which would, together, relieve the pressure on our cities and create demand for regional living. Forty years later, I believe many of the reasons for establishing 'the Corporation', as it became known, still exist.

The corporation may well have been the tool created to drive the experiment, but the Albury-Wodonga growth centre experiment was about stretching hands across a border. It was about people coming together as a community to be more effective and efficient in how they lived their lives. Delivering the vision and the agreement was a community process desperately wanted by our local councils and by the community. As the previous speaker explained, in 1974 a tripartite agreement between the Australian government and the states of New South Wales and Victoria resulted in the creation of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation. The initial role was to plan and develop Albury and Wodonga into a major inland city by the turn of the century; and, to assist in achieving the objectives, large tracts of land were compulsorily acquired in the Albury-Wodonga region with funds provided by the Australian government. The state corporations held title to the land and were responsible for land acquisition, management and disposal. With the passage of this bill, all the remaining land passes back to the Commonwealth.

In 1989, the partner governments changed the emphasis and direction of the Albury-Wodonga project. The development corporation's new role was to promote and foster growth and development, including economic development, in the region. The Australian government also required the corporation to provide monetary returns on the investment generated by property development on sales acquisition and the disposal of land. So we had to pay our way.

In 1995, the Australian government called for an accelerated rate of return on its investment through the sale of all corporation assets over a period of five years. But, responding to community pressure, in 1997 the ministerial council reviewed the decision to dispose of land and the rate of return was not achievable. The council recognised that market forces would ultimately determine the pace and amount of return from asset disposal. The council agreed that the corporation would retain responsibility for asset disposal. The council also confirmed that the two state governments would seek to withdraw from the project once appropriate legislation could be enacted.

Legislative changes to enable the winding-up of the joint government scheme for the development of Albury-Wodonga and the withdrawal of state governments were finalised in early 2004. The state corporations were dissolved on 1 March 2004 and all their assets, obligations and liabilities were transferred to the development corporation for ongoing management, development and disposal.

In June 2005, the government announced that the corporation would exit its land development activities by completing current work in progress over the ensuing 12 months. The corporation was to then concentrate on the sale of land, with strategic input from an advisory committee consisting of representatives of state governments, local councils, local business and the local community, over a 10-year period. In recognition of its withdrawal from land development activities, the corporation now operates with the business name Albury-Wodonga Corporation.

The Australian Government announced in the 2014 federal budget that it would implement a policy by 1 July 2015 of ceasing the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation, with remaining property management functions consolidated into the Department of Finance.

Now to talk of achievements. The corporation provided significant cash returns to the Commonwealth government. The corporation's 2012-13 annual report lists $100,746,477 returned to the Commonwealth government over the period 2007-8 to 2012-13—not an inconsiderable return on investment. The original land purchases and acquisitions by the corporation totalled approximately 24,000 hectares—9,000 hectares in New South Wales and 15,000 hectares in my state of Victoria.

There are other key achievements which I would like to have recognised by the parliament—and I would like to acknowledge the current CEO of the corporation, Peter Veneris, and also the Parliamentary Library. In its time the corporation developed over 6,000 residential lots in 27 different housing estates. It developed and placed on the market 2,481 home sites in and around Albury and 2,317 in Wodonga. It established nine industrial estates with serviced industrial lots. In addition to the sale of land to the private sector, the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation sold or provided land for a broad range of sites for community, educational, service, sporting and utility uses. It built over 500 short-term urban rental houses on the estates in Albury and Wodonga. These houses were built as part of a transitional accommodation scheme for key employees moving to the area.

The corporation planted over three million trees and shrubs in the area, in one of the biggest urban reafforestation programs ever undertaken in Australia. It transferred approximately 3,700 hectares of land to state and local governments for environmental purposes. Included in these transfers were approximately 1,100 hectares of environmentally sensitive land identified in three threatened species conservation strategies commissioned by the corporation. Having regard to the Australian government's requirement that the corporation dispose of its land assets, the corporation agreed to transfer those lands identified in the threatened species conservation strategies to state and local governments with an agreed level of funding for future management totalling approximately $11 million. The corporation also provided significant in-kind financial support for economic development organisations and various community groups.

At its peak in 1975-76 the corporation employed over 100 staff. I would like to acknowledge the local leadership of the corporation, including current board members Dr Andrew Watson, who is the interim chairperson, Carol Judd and the previous chairperson, Bill Hanrahan. Mr Hanrahan's term as chairperson expired on 31 December 2013 after he had spent 17 years in the role. I would particularly like to note the work of Angela Munro, a mentor to me who gave outstanding leadership to our community. Previous CEOs included Ron Dennis and Brian Scantlebury. In the early years, and prior to adopting the corporate model of a board and CEO, there was a full-time chairperson, Gordon Craig; deputy chairperson, New South Wales, Richard Howell; and deputy chairperson, Victoria, Mel Read. I would like to acknowledge their contribution. There were of course numerous other board members during the past 40 years of the corporation's existence. And to all the Albury-Wodonga councils and shires and their staff, thank you for your work.

As noted earlier in this speech, I grew up with the vision of Albury-Wodonga, and in my professional life became an active player in the development of this region. It is because of the corporation that I eventually chose to make this area my home. I was attracted to its commitment to regional development and the importance of infrastructure, quality education, transport, jobs and manufacturing industries—and manufacturing continues to be the largest employment sector in Wodonga, employing 13.5 per cent of the workforce—as well as its commitment to parks, bike tracks, landscapes and hills covered in bush, wonderful sporting facilities, community hubs, excellent health services, a fine arts community and a wonderful multicultural society. It makes my life a pleasure to live in Albury-Wodonga.

Talking of a great place to live, this is an aspect of the corporation which I particularly want to acknowledge: its commitment to community engagement and development and building social capital. Some wonderful women taught me and us the skills of community development and community building—how to welcome people and bring them into your community with wonderful welcome packs, how to introduce people to neighbourhood houses and how to use education as a tool of community engagement. These women understood connectivity. They understood belonging. They totally understood that it is people who make a community. To Kath Davies, to Shirley Rutherford, to Liz Waters, a most sincere thankyou.

Strong communities are a feature of Albury-Wodonga and region, and so too is our commitment to preserving and enhancing the environment—the hills, the river, the creeks, the flood plains and the regional parklands and recreational lakes that have been created. For all this, I would like to acknowledge and thank Sue Campbell, an amazing landscape architect. I know others were involved, but, Sue, you and your team have given us a magnificent legacy.

In closing this chapter in the lives of the community of Albury-Wodonga, it is important that I remind this parliament that the work of building the community and building regional Australia is not done. Many of the reasons for this most visionary intervention by government still exist. Our border anomalies are too many to mention. The New South Wales government, to its credit, has employed a commissioner to address these anomalies. I believe it is time for the Victorian and Commonwealth governments to consider matching this appointment so that serious work can be done on the many outrageous red-tape barriers. Our need, as a community, to constantly battle the authorities based in Melbourne, Sydney and even here in Canberra takes up far too much of our time, energy and resources—most recently with the announcement of the boundaries of the Primary Health Networks and my question to the Minister for Health on Monday. We are better than this. We should do better.

I am here to remind all governments that Albury-Wodonga is one community, that the river is not our defining feature and that we expect governments to respect our need and our desire to work collaboratively and cooperatively. And, to the future, what is the legacy we will put in place for the next generation of regional Australians, our children's children? I call on this parliament to begin work on serious policies for regional cities—policies to enhance regional living; a clear vision for a decentralised country linked by excellent transport infrastructure, both rail and road; access to mobile phone and telecommunications coverage so that, wherever we are in the country, we can use our phones; measures to ensure that our educational outcomes are equal to those of our city cousins and that we have strong regional employment opportunities powered by innovation and creativity.

In closing, I put this challenge to the parliament. In the 1970s, it was Gough and Malcolm. Today, can Bill and Tony and Albo and Warren and Barnaby do in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 what our ancestors did in the 1970s, or will it take more Cathys, Tonys, Robs, Andrews, Rickys and Johns to be elected to this place as Independents for the serious wake-up call to be heard?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank members for their contributions to the debate on the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2014. I acknowledge the bipartisanship of the member for Watson in his remarks. He spoke of an orderly sell-down of the land of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation and the fact that this was good public policy. Both sides of politics, the member for Watson acknowledged, have kept to the time line for the wind-up set by the Howard government in, as he said, 2005. This was, the member for Watson said, an appropriate measure; and, while this bill is being passed today, it is just another phase, not an end to development in Albury-Wodonga. I certainly agree with him on that. The member for Watson spoke of the extent and importance of regionalism—certainly something he can be assured will continue and is indeed happening under the Liberal-National government. I too, like the previous speaker, acknowledge the work of those people who did so much good so diligently and so efficiently for the corporation over the years.

This bill demonstrates the government's commitment to delivering its smaller government reform agenda by abolishing the Albury-Wodonga development corporation. The government has made a firm commitment to reduce the size of government bodies and to ensure that government services are as efficient as possible. The smaller government reform agenda involves the abolition or merger of government bodies where possible to eliminate duplication, to remove waste, to streamline government services and to reduce the cost of government administration for taxpayers. The first phase of the agenda was implemented soon after the 2013 election and reduced the number of government bodies by 40. The second phase of the agenda was implemented in the 2014-15 budget and delivers a further reduction of 36 government bodies. As part of the second phase in the 2014-15 budget it was announced that the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation was to be abolished and its remaining assets and liabilities transferred to the Department of Finance.

This bill provides for the transfer of all remaining functions, assets and liabilities of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation to the Department of Finance, which currently holds portfolio responsibility for non-Defence property management and divestment. The Commonwealth will continue to sell the remaining landholdings of the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation, with any issues unresolved at the time of abolition to be taken up by the Department of Finance.

This bill necessitated consequential amendments to other legislation in the portfolios of the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. The ministers responsible for this legislation have confirmed their support for the amendments, and I do not expect any further concerns to be raised. The date of the abolition of the corporation will be set by proclamation. In the absence of this, it will occur six months following the date the act receives royal assent or by 30 June 2015, whichever date falls later. This approach provides for an orderly wind-up and transition of the corporation's remaining activities. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.