Perth council’s sale to Stokes ‘strange’

There is nothing particularly unusual about a property owner wanting to connect separate parcels of land.

Combining adjoining plots under the one title can bring many benefits for the owner, not the least of which is an improved plot ratio in suburbs where high-rise development is allowed.

But a proposal by a company controlled by Kerry Stokes to buy part of a West Perth laneway from the City of Perth, that currently splits two of his properties from a third, raises a whole lot of questions.

The first of those is: why would the council sell the laneway to private interests, thereby stopping all other ratepayers from using what has long been a public right-of-way?

The most obvious answer to that is that any move by Mr Stokes's company, Comserv (No 1698), to combine the three properties and redevelop would almost certainly allow for more rateable apartments or commercial premises to be built. The laneway currently splits the Australian Capital Equity headquarters (which he bought in 1990) and 32 Kings Park Rd (bought in 2010) from the building in which BCI Minerals is based (bought 2008).

But, firstly, the redevelopment of the adjacent sites is not a condition of the sale and, secondly, such a decision ignores the history of the laneway.

Business News delved into state records to trace that history and found that the 1188sqm of laneways bounded by Altona St, Outram St, Ord St and Kings Park Rd were compulsorily acquired by the Gallop Government in 2001, using an order signed by then lands minister Alannah MacTiernan. The purpose of the acquisition was listed on the Taking Order as "Right of Way - City of Perth".

The land was made crown land, vested in the state of Western Australia, and then immediately transferred to the City of Perth as the appropriate authority to manage a suburban laneway "for an estate in fee simple in posession for the public work expressed herein". In short, the City of Perth and the State Government decided it was so important that this laneway remain a public right of way that they had it compulsorily acquired from its owner using the Land Administration Act and then vested in the City of Perth.

Now, some 23 years later, the City of Perth has held just one in-camera discussion about selling 177sqm of that land for $675,000 - an amount $15,000 more than the independent valuation - and decided to flog it off.

The public has been given absolutely no information about council's reasons for such a move, save that it received an unsolicited bid from Mr Stokes's company. That bid was discussed behind closed doors, but the only reason given for the secrecy was that the City of Perth may be entering into a contract. Surely, however, given the details of the contract have already been made public, it's pointless to have such discussions in camera? And I note the rule says council "may" hold discussions in camera when a contract is being discussed, not that it "shall" hold them in camera.

So the ratepayers of Perth are now left without any information about council's considerations on this matter. For instance, has the council considered whether it's a significant right-of-way? The State Government and the City of Perth certainly thought it was back in 2001. And has the council considered whether it can legally dispose of the land given it was vested in council by the State Government under a taking order and designated for use as a right-of-way? And, if council put it out to tender, would anyone be interested in paying more than $675,000 for this parcel of land?

Ms MacTiernan was in New York when contacted by Business News today, and (understandably) couldn't remember the particular taking order she signed back in 2001. But she did remember that when the Gallop Government came to power there were lots of parcels of land that required "tidying up". Public rights-of-way that had no legal owner were amongst those and it was against that backdrop that a swath of orders were signed.

It seems strange that the State Government and City of Perth would, in 2001, ensure proper process was being carried out on this piece of land with a public Taking Order registered, but then in 2023 its sale should be approved by council behind closed doors. Thankfully, Deputy Lord Mayor Liam Gobbert and Councillors Di Bain, Sandy Anghie, Clyde Bevan, Brent Fleeton, Rebecca Gordon and Viktor Ko voted for the matter to come back before the council after a short period of public consultation. Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas declared an impartiality interest, given Australian Capital Equity is a shareholder in Seven West Media, and did not vote. One can only hope those future discussions will be held in public.