Senator DENMAN (10:19 AM) —On behalf of Senator Murphy and on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration References Committee, I present a report relating to the committee's inquiry into the sale of 57 Commonwealth properties, together with submissions received by the committee. The following is the chairman's report regarding the inquiry into the sale of 57 Commonwealth properties.

On 3 December 1997, the Senate referred the following matter to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 25 June 1998:

The basis for the Government's decision to divest itself of 57 Commonwealth properties and the expected cost and benefits of this decision to the Australian taxpayer.

The issue of whether government should own property in its own right and, if so, in what circumstances has been debated in the parliament and particularly in estimates hearings since the announcement in the 1996 budget context that the government has adopted the Commonwealth property principles as its guide by which it would take such decisions. Those principles essentially propose that the government should own only property where the long-term yield rate exceeded the social opportunity cost of capital or where it is otherwise in the public interest to do so.

In view of the apparent interest in the topic, the committee adopted the reference with alacrity, advertised nationally for submissions and wrote personally to many individuals and organisations expected to have an interest in the matter. In the event, however, the response was extremely disappointing. By the closing date for submissions, the committee had only received five modest contributions, along with many indications from others that the issue under investigation was not of particular concern to the writers. The committee has therefore reluctantly decided that to continue a public inquiry into this matter would be a waste of time and public money and thanks those individuals and organisations which made submissions. A compilation of those submissions has been tabled with this report for the assistance of those who may be interested in the subject.