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Opposition
Leader John Brogden has thrown his weight behind opponents of plans to
lease the Quarantine Station and will look at ways of revoking any lease
signed by the State Government.
Mr. Brogden yesterday overturned a 10 year-old plan hatched by former
Liberal premier Nick Greiner to make the Quarantine Station pay its own
way.
He
said 10 years was long enough to gauge public opinion on the lease and
said it could not happen under a Coalition government.
But Environment
Minister Bob Debus said Mr Brogden was being hypocritical and was backtracking
on Coalition's policies.
Mr. Brogden's
announcement was welcomed by the Friends of the Quarantine Station, who
said they hoped he would support Upper House MP's in opposing the proposed
45 year old lease of the station to preferred tenderer Mawland Hotel Management
Group
Under the planned lease, the subject of a commission of inquiry, Mawland
would operate the site as a boutique hotel, restaurant and conference
centre.
Mr. Brogden said a 45-year lease would amount to sale of publicly owned
land and the Coalition would reject any commercial operation on the site
unless it was managed and run by the NPWS.
"A Coalition government would scrap plans to lease the Quarantine
Station and review options for its use in consultation with the community,"
he said.
"We will indicate strongly to the Government that they not go ahead
with the lease in the next 11 months leading up to the state election.
If the Government signed a lease we could have to look at how we could
get out of it. It could be very difficult to get out of a lease - we'd
have to look at the compensation payable."
FroQS
president and Manly councillor Sue Sacker said: "The numbers in the
Upper House are potentially there to stop the lease going ahead.
"We haven't had the numbers before but if the Coalition is willing
to join forces with the cross-benchers to fight this, they could stop
it."
Manly Mayor Jean Hay welcomed the announcement and said council was "vehemently
opposed to the lease of the site for commercial purposes".
Davidson MP Andrew Humpherson said leasing the site would conflict with
the declarations of the foreshore as critical habitat for fairy penguins.
Mr Debus
said Mr Brogden was being hypocritical, given the Coalitions role in establishing
the option for the Station.
"Now Mr Brogden says a lease would be inappropriate and alienate
public land. He is wrong," Mr Debus said.
"If the Coalition is not going to proceed with the proposed lease
then Mr Brogden will either have to take $10 million from elsewhere in
the NPWS budget to restore the site or simply let the historic buildings
crumble. Last year the Coalition voted to support the Government's legislation
to facilitate the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings located in national
parks for ... this purpose."
Mawland
Hotel management Group spokesman Max Player was unavailable for comment.
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