The federal government has been castigated for paying a dairy farm operator 22 times more per hectare for a parcel of land abutting Western Sydney Airport than what its state counterpart did | Mattonews
The federal government has been castigated for paying a dairy farm operator 22 times more per hectare for a parcel of land abutting Western Sydney Airport than what its state counterpart did for its own slice of what has been dubbed the "Leppington triangle".
The 12.26 hectares in question at Bringelly was bought by the Commonwealth for almost $30 million in July 2018 with the aim of eventually using it as part of theLess than a year later, the federal Department of Infrastructure's accounts revealed it valued the land at $3.065 million – just a tenth of the price it paid Leppington Pastoral Company.
The Commonwealth bought a 12-hectare parcel of land beside the site of the new airport two years ago.It led to an audit by federal Auditor-General Grant Hehir who has found that the department failed to exercise proper due diligence in its purchase of the dairy farming land, and that aspects of the agency's operations "fell short of ethical standards".
The Auditor-General also found the department's acquisition strategy was focused on "incentivising an unwilling seller" to dispose of its land some 32 years before it was expected to be used for a second runway. The farming land next to the 1780-hectare airport site became known as the Leppington triangle because of its shape.
Upon buying the land, the Commonwealth leased it back to the dairy operator for a decade with options to renew the lease for a further 10 years. The land was valued at $920,000 for lease back.
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