The Land Development Agency could have been even more aggressive in buying up land in Canberra's western fringe, according to its former chair.
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Ross Barrett, who chaired the now-defunct agency from 2012 to 2017, said future ACT government's now faced the daunting prospect of competing with private developers to secure increasingly expensive land.
Mr Barrett sounded the warning during evidence to the ACT Legislative Assembly's inquiry into the agency's purchase of nine rural properties between 2014 and 2017.
Colliers International ACT chief executive Paul Powderly also fronted Wednesday's public hearing, as he again defended his role in the saga.
The deals were the subject of a scathing audit report, which found many failed a number of the agency's own tests for land acquisitions. The 2018 report criticised the agency's handling of contractors, particularly Colliers, as well as its decision to support the subdivision of a key property it had intended to purchase in full.
The inquiry has previously heard that concerns aired by Mr Barrett's board about a looming land supply shortage in the ACT were the basis for buying the rural properties.
The $43 million worth of deals netted the territory 3,378 hectares of rural land, which could be rezoned and redeveloped for housing in the future.
On Wednesday, Mr Barrett described the amount paid for the properties as a "drop in the ocean".
But he lamented the fact that the buy up did not go further, saying that "he has no doubt that history will show that we didn't do enough of it".
He said it was "inarguable" that the privately owned rural blocks would be rezoned for housing, which would increase their value ten-fold and make them more expensive to acquire in the future.
The price of many farms has already skyrocketed following the Carnell government's decision to allow rural leaseholders to convert their properties from 20 or 50-year leases to 99-year leases.
"This is going to haunt governments in the future," he said.
"The land where we expect that we are going to have to develop next is all basically 99-year leases."
Mr Barrett, a former president of the Master Builders Association of the ACT, said the government would face increased competition from private developers looking to buy rural properties in Canberra. He was concerned about what more private land ownership would mean for the territory's economy.
"As we are all aware, land development has been the province of the ACT government and quite frankly they are going to lose it in the next few years. It's going to cause enormous problems for our economy.
"This rural land lease situation is going to cause a pain in the neck for whichever government has to deal with it."
Mr Barrett said the government had in 2014 recognised the need to buy more rural land, giving the agency "permission" to proceed with buying new properties - albeit on a "limited basis".
Mr Powderly was called back to give evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday, after appearing at the first round of public hearings in June last year.
Mr Powderly was a key figure in the buy up, authoring the unsolicited proposal which ultimately informed the agency's decision to purchase two of the properties.
That four-page proposal was incorporated into an official strategy paper, which was later changed to mention that Colliers would act as the agency's on the rural land sales - and be paid for it. Colliers was paid close to $300,000 for the work, although the auditor could find no evidence of a purchase order.
Mr Powderly said it was not unusual for his firm to advise the government on strategic land acquisitions.
He said Colliers had a contract with the agency from 2013 - a year before it started advising on the rural land deals.
Under the agreement, Colliers would provide a list of standard fees and service offerings to the agency, who would then appoint the firm for a job, in line with those terms.
"The reason that we had those contracts with the LDA is because we had so much work, there was so much happening," Mr Powderly said.
"Every single time you had to go a quote for a job, it became just became a nightmare. So they set up these contracts."