The Liberal Party wants the ACT government to move the proposed Rivett mosque, insisting it's the right idea in the wrong location.
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The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association bought a block of land at the Rivett shops in March from the government with the intention of building a new mosque to house their growing congregation.
Business owners at the Rivett shops voiced their concerns about the new development last month, complaining about a lack of consultation and potential parking issues.
Liberal Molonglo MLA Giulia Jones heard concerns from Rivett residents during a mobile office event in the suburb, attended by Opposition leader Jeremy Hanson.
She said while she supported the idea of a new mosque for the ACT, she agreed the Weston Creek shops were the wrong place for it to be built.
"It makes me wonder when the hell government ministers last visited the Rivett shops," Mrs Jones said.
"Making a decision like that without sending someone out to have a discussion with the locals seems disrespectful.
"I think a new block needs to be found."
Mrs Jones said there had been a series of ongoing problems at the Rivett shops, including grime, vandalism, empty stores and drug dealing.
"We have an empty petrol station site there with a falling down hessian cloth on the fence," she said.
"There are quite a lot of graffiti problems [as well] probably partly because there's an empty shop there which has been empty for a decade.
Ahmadiyya Muslim Association president Mohammad Hasan said he would gladly take a bigger block, closer to a major road or town centre, if it was offered by the ACT government.
"We realised when they offered that block of land that it was small and we agree with the shop owners that there will be limited parking," he said. "If we were given a bigger block where we can fit 20 to 50 cars we would really appreciate it," he said.
New Chief Minister Andrew Barr said residents and businesses would have a chance to comment on the new mosque once a development application had been lodged - likely to be in early 2015.
"The development application consulting process will allow residents and businesses the chance to comment about a range of possible issues, such as parking," he said.
"If a mosque is built on this site it would bring activity and people to the area thereby assisting businesses at the local shopping centre."
