MORALANA STATION

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (15:37): At 2pm tomorrow, at the Hawker Community Centre, Landmark will auction a premier property in South Australia known as Moralana Station. This is a property which is situated in the Flinders Ranges near Hawker, in the state seat of Stuart. It is one of three properties to be sold by the University of Adelaide or, in particular, a trust, which I will refer to shortly. The other properties are Munduney Station at Jamestown (also in the state seat of Stuart) and Martindale Farm, near Mintaro which, as many members would know, is in the Clare district, in the state seat of Frome. These are rural properties of stock and crop farming operations which, prior to their bequest by generous family benefactors, had been operated as rural holdings. I will give a brief history.

J.T. Mortlock died in 1950 and granted his wife a life interest, which expired upon her death in 1978. The property was conveyed to the Mortlock Trust. Other properties, via Mr J.S. Davies, who had generously donated the properties of Moralana and Munduney stations, are also under the operation of the Mortlock Trust.

Martindale Holdings Pty Ltd operates this trust for and on behalf of the University of Adelaide which, except for a very small interest in favour of Prince Alfred College, is in favour of the University of Adelaide. Not only are these properties significant in the development and agricultural gains for this state, but also, as properties that have been there for the benefit of the University of Adelaide, they have been very substantial in the history of the agricultural and animal science education and research fields of the university.

It is no secret—as I have published in the Stock Journal—that I object to the decision by the Adelaide University to offer these properties for sale. It is clear, I think, that there is no legal impediment against the terms of the trust in allowing the university to sell these properties but, certainly, I think that is in breach of their moral obligation to maintain these properties for the benefit for which they were given.

Furthermore, even though the trust terms under the bequest to operate the property as a farming property for a period of 20 years expired in 1989, this property, particularly at Martindale Farm, has provided very significant income to the university. In fact, in 2008 it was budgeted to receive $404,000—which was actually received in 2009—net benefit to the university, yet the university has made the decision to sell these properties, the first of which is to be auctioned tomorrow, as I said.

The University of Adelaide has prided itself—and as a former old scholar I received a notice recently from the university doing just that—in agriculture and animal science education and, very importantly, the number of research projects that it has maintained. It claims that the proceeds from the sale of these properties will be reinvested 'in world-class research facilities'.

I say to this parliament that it is of great concern to me that when we debated the University of Adelaide bill—and the Hon. Jane Lomax-Smith was the former minister—she provided to me, and I read into the Hansard, a list of properties that would be the subject of sale under that new legislation which essentially allowed, amongst other things, the right of the university to buy and sell property without cabinet approval.

The properties on that list included the 5UV transmitter site at Wingfield, the Coobowie property near Edithburgh, Jervois land at Clare, Middleback field station out of Whyalla, Buckland Park field station and the Buckland Lake out of Port Gawler, two properties known as the Charlick experiment station at Strathalbyn, Glenthorne Farm at O'Halloran Hill (which I am sure is well known to members) and the Thebarton precinct, which is the fourth main precinct of the University of Adelaide. Not one mention of these rural properties was made in the debates by the minister for higher education at the time, yet I have no doubt she was provided with that information by the University of Adelaide. I read this list into Hansard at the time and I raised my concern about the university's intention to sell off properties, yet we stand here today, on the eve of an auction of one of the premier properties of this state—which was never disclosed in those debates—and I want some answers.