The CSIRO has indicated it still wants to be involved in planning an urban development on the site of its old Ginninderra field experiment station, which a re-elected Coalition government would sell for housing.
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A spokeswoman for the organisation said the sale of the eastern part of the site could boost the supply of developable land in the territory.
"Our aspirations for Ginninderra East are for it to become an example of how to create a sustainable urban community with the help of innovative science and technology," the spokeswoman said.
The Liberal senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja, on Wednesday promised a re-elected Coalition government would sell of a third of the 701-hectare site for housing to the private sector, locking out the ACT government from the process.
Senator Seselja said there would be a strong bias towards providing family-sized homes, and there was still work underway to determine how the sale process would work.
"Importantly it will be released to the private sector, not to the ACT government, and the reason for that is because, if we were to release it to the government, my fear is that they would land bank it in the same that they are land banking so much land around the territory and we wouldn't achieve our ends," Senator Seselja said.
A spokeswoman for the ACT government on Wednesday said the territory would be interested in buying the land and would commit to developing housing on the site as quickly as possible, and on Friday added the federal government needed to provide more detail of its plan for the site.
"Senator Seselja and the Federal Liberal Nationals as a start point have to explain how they would approach the market, ensure due diligence on the site, by when they would expect a development to commence and how much of the site would be delivered as affordable housing," the spokeswoman said on Friday.
"The lack of any detailed plan so far is concerning. This is a significant development which will require considerable expense in augmenting surrounding infrastructure such as roads, water and energy.
"Any potential development on the site would not be able to be delivered without funding for upgrades of the surrounding road network and other services required to connect to the site."
Discussions between the ACT government and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to form a joint venture on the site fell apart in 2016, and the Commonwealth Auditor-General in 2020 revealed an unsolicited offer for the site fell through in December 2019.
A spokeswoman for the CSIRO on Thursday said the organisation was undertaking due diligence studies in preparation for a future sale of part of the site.
"We are liaising regularly with relevant Commonwealth and territory government departments regarding the approvals and agreements which would be required to divest the site, and are committed to carefully working through all these complex elements," the spokeswoman said.
The CSIRO has occupied the site since 1958, but much of its agricultural research has since moved to a new 290-hectare experiment station at Boorowa. Scientists are continuing to complete ecological work in the western part of the site, which is between the Belconnen and Gungahlin districts of Canberra.
"We continue to conduct ecological research at Ginninderra, particularly on the Ginninderra West portion of the site. Research activities in this area include grassland and woodland restoration projects, which are being delivered in partnership with conservation groups, government and the local community," the CSIRO spokeswoman said.
"Any future divestment of Ginninderra West will be subject to CSIRO's ongoing operational requirements."
The CSIRO has previously indicated it intended to sell off the entire site.
The site was rezoned by the National Capital Authority to allow for residential development in 2016, a decision which Chief Minister Andrew Barr criticised at the time.
A report by the Commonwealth Auditor-General in 2020 revealed the CSIRO's development plans were stymied in late 2016, when the Department of Finance received legal advice saying the CSIRO might not have the power to enter a land joint venture.
While the CSIRO already had the green light from internal legal advice, it then sought its own external legal advice which said it did not have the power to develop and sell land for the sole reason of raising money.
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The Commonwealth property disposal policy says land held by the federal government should be sold on the open market if it has no alternative efficient government use, unless otherwise approved by the federal finance minister.
The policy also says "entities should work with state, territory and local governments to encourage planning measures that will promote an appropriate proportion of affordable housing at sites where residential development is feasible".
The Canberra Times asked Senator Seselja's office whether Finance Minister Simon Birmingham had approved an alternative sale process for the land that would exclude the ACT government from bidding or putting forward a tender but did not receive a reply.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
