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Government defends leasing land to shooters' club below market value

Thursday, 29 Dec 2016 11:09:43 | Alexandra Beech

The average yearly rent of a home in the suburb of Malabar is $42,460. (Google Maps)

The Federal Government has defended leasing out prime Sydney waterfront land to a sporting shooters' group at well below market price.

Finance Department documents have revealed the NSW Rifle Association pays around $510 a week to lease the 38-hectare Anzac Rifle Range on the Malabar Headland, around 12 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD, as part of a 50-year deal.

CoreLogic data showed the average yearly rent for a home in Malabar was around $1,000 a week.

Labor has written to the Auditor-General to ask him to investigate the deal and whether taxpayers were receiving value for money.

Coalition senator Scott Ryan said the shooters group had been based at the Malabar rifle range for a long time.

"I understand that the arrangements with that body, the NSW Rifle Association, have been in place on that particular site for many, many years that predate the current lease," he said.

He also brushed off suggestions of a quid pro quo deal with Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm over the lease.

But Senator Leyonhjelm has taken credit for the 50-year deal, saying the Government had lost twice in litigation over the future of the land before he intervened.

"It came as something of a relief to them to have someone like me turn up and say, 'I know this issue, I know the shooting association quite well, I know what their concerns and priorities are, I know the history of the range, I have a solution for you'," he said.

"It was almost as if they were waiting for me to arrive, in some respects."

The property on the Malabar Headland includes four shooting ranges, a clubhouse, a caravan park and a car park.

AustraliaPlus


 

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