Mr WOOD - 2013-11-27
I am standing up for sport. As you know, your government is kicking the Darwin badminton club out of its home at Sports House so government can sell the land for a high density housing complex. Considering you have many other parcels of land you have earmarked for housing development, why can you not delay the sale of this land until a permanent home can be built for the club at Marrara?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. I will answer the first part of the question from a Lands and Planning point of view, but will hand over to minister Tollner who is taking questions in regard to Sport and Recreation at the moment, in regard to badminton ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question is related to delaying the sale of land. It is not an argument about badminton; it is about whether the government will delay the sale of land so a permanent home could be found at Marrara.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: I will not apologise, member for Nelson, for getting on with the job and trying to find some solutions to the cost of housing in the Northern Territory. This is something this government has taken seriously and has nominated a number of sites, not only in the greater Darwin area, but across the Northern Territory so we can start to work with developers and infill, and start to look at densification in certain areas.
That site was identified. I know the minister for Sport and Recreation has worked damned hard with a number of these associations in trying to find alternative solutions for them. I also know badminton has been offered a number of solutions, yet they have chosen not to take any of those offers. There are a number of different associations there and work has been done to find them good solutions for their sports.
I will get back to the Lands and Planning side of things. As I said about Kurringal when I was the Housing minister, it is timely that these older structures across the Northern Territory are demolished and redeveloped.
The old Wirrana site is a great example of what the former government had done. It was well past its use-by date and today it is a wonderful new development. The same thing should happen to Kurringal and to buildings like the old Sports House. The asbestos problems in there, the air-conditioning problems – the economic life of the building is finished. That site has been earmarked for redevelopment because the former government left the cost of housing in the Northern Territory well beyond the average person, member for Nelson.
We will not apologise for getting on and redeveloping these sites as soon as possible so we can reduce the pressure of housing prices in the Darwin area.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. I will answer the first part of the question from a Lands and Planning point of view, but will hand over to minister Tollner who is taking questions in regard to Sport and Recreation at the moment, in regard to badminton ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question is related to delaying the sale of land. It is not an argument about badminton; it is about whether the government will delay the sale of land so a permanent home could be found at Marrara.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: I will not apologise, member for Nelson, for getting on with the job and trying to find some solutions to the cost of housing in the Northern Territory. This is something this government has taken seriously and has nominated a number of sites, not only in the greater Darwin area, but across the Northern Territory so we can start to work with developers and infill, and start to look at densification in certain areas.
That site was identified. I know the minister for Sport and Recreation has worked damned hard with a number of these associations in trying to find alternative solutions for them. I also know badminton has been offered a number of solutions, yet they have chosen not to take any of those offers. There are a number of different associations there and work has been done to find them good solutions for their sports.
I will get back to the Lands and Planning side of things. As I said about Kurringal when I was the Housing minister, it is timely that these older structures across the Northern Territory are demolished and redeveloped.
The old Wirrana site is a great example of what the former government had done. It was well past its use-by date and today it is a wonderful new development. The same thing should happen to Kurringal and to buildings like the old Sports House. The asbestos problems in there, the air-conditioning problems – the economic life of the building is finished. That site has been earmarked for redevelopment because the former government left the cost of housing in the Northern Territory well beyond the average person, member for Nelson.
We will not apologise for getting on and redeveloping these sites as soon as possible so we can reduce the pressure of housing prices in the Darwin area.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016