PATIENCE has finally run out over the Shaolin’s payment for land at Comberton Grange.
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After the second cheque bounced on Friday, a fact revealed only on Monday afternoon, Shoalhaven City Council was on Tuesday afternoon moving to call in the mortgage. Ironically, that will actually give the Shaolin Temple Foundation even more time to pay up.
The latest promise, in the form of a post-dated cheque, was that the final payment would be made by February 23. The decision to call in the mortgage will give the foundation 30 days, effectively extending the deadline into early March.
The question on the lips of everyone watching this saga is if the Shaolin can’t organise prompt payment and simple money transfers for a mere $5 million, how will it manage to build a complex $380 million temple which will involve specialist labour, presumably on 457 visas?
Scepticism over the future of the deal is rife throughout the community and entirely understandable. So too are calls for an investigation into the way the transaction has been handled by Shoalhaven City Council. While it probably doesn’t warrant a probe by ICAC, it should certainly attract the attention of the Department of Local Government and to that end, the local state MPs Shelley Hancock and Gareth Ward should get the ball rolling.
For ratepayers’ faith in the way successive Shoalhaven councils have negotiated on their behalf to be restored, the scrutiny of an outside body is necessary.
Ratepayers deserve to be confident that their interests are being served properly and with due process and diligence.
