Talking Point: Letting Kangaroo Bay icon slip from our grasp

Local government requires the maturity to strike the right balance of community amenity and our future economic wellbeing. Here’s why an alderman says council’s locked vote over the Kangaroo Bay development defies logic.

DESPITE what people may tell you, the decision by Clarence City Council to not reach a decision on Chambroad Australia’s request for an extension of time to achieve “substantial commencement” of its $80m hotel and hospitality training school at Kangaroo Bay means the community has lost a golden opportunity to ensure the timely realisation of this iconic development.

Although the project has suffered a number of setbacks over the past five years, Chambroad Australia has maintained an unwavering commitment that has already seen them invest over $10m towards the development of what will be a truly iconic and world-class educational and hospitality provider in our state.

Unquestionably, COVID-19 has been devastating. For Chambroad’s educational partner, the University of Tasmania, and the state’s tourism and hospitality sector, the impact has been severe and we are yet to comprehend the full extent of the economic and social harm.

Artists impressions of the proposed development at Kangaroo Bay on Hobart's Easters shore.

For these reasons, the Force Majeure clause regarding the unforeseeable circumstances that have prevented Chambroad from fulfilling the contract are plainly present and in my view incontestable.

As part of the negotiations to grant the extension, council had sought additional conditions from Chambroad, including a clearly defined revised development timeline and regular progress reviews, as well as appointment of an independent probity auditor to ensure contract performance.

Chambroad was accepting of all these additional conditions, and this outcome would have provided residents with a high level of comfort that the project would proceed in a timely manner.

After all the chest-beating and tough talk following Monday’s six-all tied vote, all that transpired was that council did not reach a decision.

In a contractual sense, this means council has now lost our bargaining power to insert the additional conditions as safeguards.

To be clear, council has never considered buying back the land. Not only should this loss of negotiating power be deeply disturbing, so too were the many unsound arguments used against the extension.

The main one was that there was “no community support” for the project.

Well, this project had run the assessment process before the 2017 agreement and, frankly, while it may suit some of the anti-everything brigade to rewrite history, this clearly does not stack up under scrutiny.

Another argument was that the development ought to be replaced with “nice little shops to enjoy coffee and breakfast”.

Well, if a five-star international hotel is not to your taste, you could always walk 200 metres down the road to Bellerive Village and enjoy a coffee at any one of the many fine eateries. However, the clanger was the argument based on the timing of the next local government election.

To these and the many other spurious arguments put on Monday, there was a significant gap in logic.

Local government is a serious business.

It takes more than walking the roads and madly waving a sign.

It requires the maturity and capacity to strike the right balance of community amenity commensurate with our future economic wellbeing.

Brendan Blomeley is an alderman on the Clarence City Council and a member of the Premier’s Local Government Council.