Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Member for Clark
The Greens welcome the move towards a state basketball team. Investment in sports is critical to good health outcomes and social inclusion.
The Derwent Entertainment Centre deal, however, must be approached with caution. It certainly has a whiff of corporate welfare about it.
At first glance, it appears any money being paid by the developer for prime real estate is being invested in infrastructure that the proponent will have near-exclusive rights to use.
It is critical the DEC remains in public hands – it is an asset that belongs to the community.
The State Government must also make public the terms of the lease being offered. If $60 million is going to be invested in this infrastructure, taxpayers are entitled to know how much we are getting back in rent.
When we are 11,000 affordable homes short of demand, have a health system bursting at the seams, and are lagging behind in education outcomes, it’s hard to justify $60 million of public funds being handed to big business.
The original proposal for the sale of the DEC was to cover the Glenorchy City Council’s budget shortfalls. Now, bizarrely, the funds Council will receive from the sale of foreshore land will be reinvested in DEC infrastructure being leased to the same proponent who is buying the foreshore land.
It appears as though Glenorchy City Council is losing valuable assets from its balance sheet and gaining nothing.