Talk about sleight of hand.
How else to characterise the proposal by the Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, to fund the demolition of the former home of the Eden Marine Discovery Centre at the Eden Wharf & the construction of a new building using $10M of bushfire funds intended to assist in recovery of the broader Eden community.
And even then, not a word as to what steps the State Government intends to take to re-establish the operation of the world-renowned educational institution & the six other businesses thrown under a bus by the incompetent Crown Lands Department.
Does Mr Constance really believe that if the existing building is only fit for demolition that it only reached that state during the 13 year occupancy of the Eden Marine Discovery Centre?
Given the average life of commercial buildings is 50-60 years, the association believes that the building must have been well & truly on the point of ruin long before Crown Lands flogged the lease to the Discovery Centre in 2007.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the bushfires that created this disaster, it was Crown Lands.
It was Crown Lands that turned-up like a thief in the night & destroyed an educational icon & six other local businesses & the livelihoods of their proprietors & staff simply because they could.
And then, in a clumsy & disastrous attempt to minimise further damage to its already battered reputation, Crown Lands engaged in further predatory behaviour by trying to insist that it would only entertain further discussions with its victims if they would sign non-disclosure agreements.
And now, having created yet another scandalous mess, a too clever by half Mr Constance would have the Eden community pay for cleaning it up.
Perhaps
Mr Constance could add the costs of the proposed new building & the re-establishment costs of the
Marine Discovery Centre & the businesses trashed to the $4.3B blowout in the cost of his fabled
Sydney Metro project, or the cost of rectifying his $2.3B
Intercity Trains bungle or the cost of the 10 new ferries that are too high to navigate under some of
Sydney’s bridges?
Whatever grand ideas that Mr Constance might come-up with to solve the Eden Wharf debacle created by Crown Lands, their cost should not be met by redirecting promised bushfire relief funding for the Eden community.
That’s called sleight of hand.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au