Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Randall interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Kooyong will resume his seat. The member for Canning will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Canning then left the chamber.

Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Special Minister of State. Has the minister seen media reports about Commonwealth leases on Centenary House in the Australian Capital Territory? Do these reports confirm the government’s claims that the Australian taxpayer has been ripped off by the Labor Party for more than 14 years?

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kooyong for his question. In answer to the member for Kooyong, yes, I have seen reports about Commonwealth leases of Centenary House, and I took a great interest in those reports.

Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Bowen interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Prospect will remove himself under standing order 94(a)

The member for Prospect then left the chamber.

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In fact, I took an interest because I remember speaking on this matter in 1992 or 1993, when I was President of the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory, and revealing the circumstances under which the Australian Labor Party negotiated the lease. In the early nineties the Australian Labor Party thought they would take advantage of incentives to locate headquarters in the ACT. They decided that they would build a building called Centenary House. The problem was that they did not have anybody to put in it, so they negotiated a lease with the then Keating government. It was a 15-year lease and a guaranteed income for that period of time. The interesting thing was that the rent that was negotiated was way over the top of market rents at the time, and it started before the building was even built. By the time the building was actually built but before anybody moved in, the rent had gone up even further.

The ratchet clause in the lease was a nine per cent increase per annum for 15 years. The nine per cent was applying even before the Audit Office, whom the Keating government negotiated with for the lease, moved into the building.

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr McMullan interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The general warning still applies. The member for Fraser will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Fraser then left the chamber.

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a lease on behalf of the government, but effectively the taxpayer is currently paying $1,100 to $1,200 a square metre, and that does not include outgoings. By 2008, it will be $1,300 a square metre, which is more than what is paid in New York, London or Paris; it is more than the highest rents that you would find in the most expensive cities in the world. If you look at the market rate, you will see that the Australian Labor Party will have had a windfall—and this is over and above the actual market rent—of $42 million over that period of time. This is over and above what should have been paid for fair market rent. It is an average building in Canberra but $42 million was paid for it.

The lease will finally run out in 2008 because the Labor Party were embarrassed and sold off the building for a profit, which they obviously put into their campaign funds. They were very happy to disclose those campaign funds, I guess, coming from the taxpayer. A new lease starting in 2008 has been negotiated and it is for $385 a square metre. So the taxpayer will be paying $1,300 a square metre one week and the next week they will be paying $385 a square metre. It is a disgrace. This week we have had lectures from the Labor Party about contracts and morality. It is total hypocrisy on behalf of the Labor Party. They are the ones who have been immoral—

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Brendan O’Connor interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Gorton will remove himself under standing order 94(a).

The member for Gorton then left the chamber.

Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people who have been immoral are the Australian Labor Party, fleecing $42 million from Australian taxpayers. They ought to give it back.

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.