With Greg Harford, Canberra Business Chamber CEO
Property rights are one of the cornerstones of Australian democracy. It goes without saying that a private individual, family or company can own property and use it for pretty much any legal purpose.
Imagine the alternative – – that the Government could seize property at will and use it for whatever it wanted.
Grandma and Grandad might wake up one morning to find that their house has been ‘reallocated’ to a bigger family; or that their big old house is being demolished to make way for townhouses.
Businesses could wake up to find that the land, buildings, and even businesses that they have invested in are suddenly considered public property.
This sounds far-fetched, but this could soon be a reality for at least one Canberra business – – for the second time in two years. Hard on the heels of last year’s ‘forced acquisition’ of Calvary Hospital by the Government, the Greens are proposing that Thoroughbred Park could be ‘forcibly acquired’ and developed for housing.
Is this a good idea?
There’s no denying that we need more houses here in the ACT; or that we could build a lot of houses on the Thoroughbred Park site. But that’s not the point. It is just plain old bad policy to be talking about the forced acquisition of private land.
In any event, the owners of the land are already talking about redeveloping some of it for housing, in a way that fits alongside their existing business. The fact that the business’s plans don’tt match some utopian vision from the Legislative Assembly doesn’t mean that the Government should just be able to step in to take the land.
Businesses employ two-thirds of all Canberrans, and successful business is critical to the future of the territory. Businesses need certainty in their operating environment, and need to know that their private property rights are secure and will be respected.
The idea that private property is somehow a resource that can be taken at will by the Government is at odds with Australia’s status as a property-owning democracy. If implemented, it would likely have a chilling effect on investment in the Territory.
Most people would not buy a house or a car if they thought there was a realistic chance the Government could just step in to take it away. The same is true of business. Businesses won’t invest if they don’t have certainty that private property rights will be respected. Ultimately, it’s the private sector that keeps Canberra ticking over. Good policy relies on keeping private property secured while allowing willing sellers and buyers the choice to negotiate, or not.
