The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (20:21): I thank members for their contributions: the Hon. Michelle Lensink on behalf of the opposition and the Hon. Mira El Dannawi on behalf of the government. I want to thank the government for the constructive way in which they have engaged with me on this issue. I have had a number of constructive discussions with the Minister for Housing on this very question around what we do with vacant land.
Indeed, it is an issue that I raised just a few weeks ago in this chamber in the context of the planning reforms. I was very concerned around the opening up of farmland for new housing developments. It has long been my view that rather than us eating into our farmland, what we should be doing is activating long-term vacant land.
This bill draws on some of the work of my predecessor in this place, the Hon. Mark Parnell, and adds a few new elements. I think it is fair to say this is an issue I have been concerned about since my time on the Adelaide City Council. I remember the O'Connell Street saga, the old Le Cornu site that was vacant for more than 30 years. This is designed to try to incentivise owners of this kind of land.
It is my hope that if this bill passes the upper house tonight, I would be able to work constructively with the government to nut out an approach that might deal with this scenario.
Bill read a second time.