00:01The Big Splash water park has become a big problem for the ACT government.
00:07If you have a regulator that is meant to be stopping lease squatting and it is not stopping lease squatting,
00:13you either need to fix up your laws or you need to fix up your regulator.
00:17The regulator, Access Canberra, says it's more likely than not the owners have complied with the conditions of their lease,
00:23meaning they aren't able to take any legal action, despite the site entering its third straight summer closure.
00:29If the laws aren't right, fix them. You've got a parliament standing by to help you.
00:34The Attorney-General admits the decades-old lease is not fit for purpose, but says changes can't be made retrospectively.
00:41Even though a decision ultimately might be unpopular, they have to be applying the law as it stands, not as
00:48how we wish it would be.
00:50The government has been under growing pressure to intervene,
00:53but the Sporter Recreation Minister says they don't have enough information to justify acquiring the derelict water park
00:59and says terminating the lease would send the wrong message.
01:02The last thing we want to be doing is rewarding incredibly bad behaviour by the lessee at Big Splash
01:10by paying just terms compensation to them for the site.
01:15While the site sits idle, Chris Steele says the Territory Government is reviewing lease enforcement powers,
01:21including looking at increasing penalties to ensure lease condition compliance in similar situations.
01:27That will likely require changes to legislation, which could be considered next year.
01:32The
01:32You
