A game of golf in Aussie

["Jurriaan Bendien" <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Big businesses and some of the world's wealthiest people are renting
taxpayer-owned land in New South Wales (Australia) for peppercorn rates
under a system that is riddled with inconsistencies and loopholes. Office
buildings, factories, marinas, petrol stations, restaurants, prestigious
golf courses, five-star resorts and homes have been built on the land. The
total rent collected by the Department of Lands for 37.5 million hectares -
nearly half the State - is just $60 million a year. That is less than $2 per
hectare in the public purse. Some leaseholders on land that contains
multi-million-dollar businesses qualify for an added bonus - they pay no
land tax.

An examination of about 18,000 leases, obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald
under freedom-of-information laws, reveals that some fixed-term leases
contain huge inconsistencies in the rent charged for similar properties. In
Sydney's eastern suburbs, two golf courses sit side by side on prime coastal
real estate in the electorate of the Premier, Bob Carr. St Michael's, a
championship-sized course that is open to the public as well as members, is
charged $257,000 in rent a year, before rebates. Next door, the private and
highly exclusive NSW Golf Club pays $40,000. However, for allowing the
public in, St Michael's qualifies for a rebate, which last year was more
than $217,000. Many government leases have become so valuable on the private
market that they are traded for millions of dollars, but none of this ever
finds its way to taxpayers.

Cattle stations in New England, on leasehold land, are traded for close to
freehold prices because of rules which mean peppercorn rents can never be
increased by more than a few dollars a year. In some cases the rents on
farms are so low that it costs taxpayers more money to collect them. This
kind of deal applies to some of the best farms, orchards and banana
plantations in the state. Kerry Packer, Australia's richest man, pays less
than $15 a week for a part of his Hunter Valley retreat, famous for its polo
fields. Rupert Murdoch pays less than $3 a week for 48 hectares near Yass.
However, both men did pay the previous holders of the leases market value to
take over the land.

"It is the legislation that has created this situation," said Jeff Green,
manager of Crown land information for the Department of Lands. Governments
made the law, he said. "That is not a criticism, it is a statement of fact."
However, John Pickard, a former senior public servant who helped administer
the leases, said that if the system were better managed it could generate
tens of millions of dollars for new schools and hospitals. "You are paying
for it, mate, the same way I am, but that doesn't explain why," Dr Pickard
said. "I am not implying corruption of any form but this is obscene, when
your rent is so low that your phone bill is higher. The scandal is what the
hell are those politicians in Macquarie Street doing whingeing that they
have not got enough money to do things . . . when they are sitting on this
bloody goldmine." (...)

Complete story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/29/1062050666740.html