Access Canberra, aka the Territory Planning Authority, had all the chance in the world to save Big Splash as a water park for the national capital.

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It chose not to. For whatever reason. Perhaps, deep down, it really does want the developer (cough, sorry, lessee) to put houses, units, a hotel, whatever on the site in Macquarie.

Yes, yes, the Assembly has ruled out rezoning the land for residential use. Let's see how long that lasts when the site becomes even more derelict; even more of an eyesore. When the new fence continues to get kicked down and the vandals keep getting in and running amok.

We can only wait for the next chapter of this ridiculous tale to unfold - when an "unlicensed family restaurant" supposedly will open on the Big Splash site on November 1 in a last-ditch attempt by the owner to comply with the lease. (Cue a food truck parked on-site or a donga craned in, perhaps? Mmmmm, so appealing.)

It will be symbolic of everything about the Big Splash saga - the lessee will do the very bare minimum to keep hold of the land and will keep taking Canberrans for fools. And Access Canberra, aka the Territory Planning Authority, will keep enabling him.

And, let's get real, the Labor government and the Liberal opposition have sat and watched the whole thing unfold with barely a peep. The only party that has truly and genuinely tried to save Big Splash is the ACT Greens.

It beggars belief why Access Canberra has refused to punish the Big Splash owner when it has breached the lease so very blatantly over a number of years. How many chances does someone get? The site hasn't opened as an aquatic park since the 2023-24 summer. Where's the confusion?

Access Canberra has instead chosen to take the Big Splash owner at its word - when time and again the owner has broken promises and been less than upfront. Not only with the public and ministers and bureaucrats but also with his own financial backers.

Translink Management Group, headed by Songnan (Morris) Huang, bought the Big Splash lease in 2021.

What followed was legal action, settled out of court, in 2021 when Translink's private lenders claimed they had been told that the purchase price of the Big Splash lease was $17.5 million when it was actually $7.5 million. Needless to say, the lenders wanted to know what had happened to the other missing $10 million and sought a freezing of Translink's assets.

Even against this background, Access Canberra continues to give the Big Splash owner chance after chance. Why? To play the long game? To grind down the Big Splash venue even more until no one in their right mind will reopen an aquatics facility there? When whacking up hundreds of units on the site becomes much easier? And so much more profitable?

To update everyone, the Big Splash owner and his private lenders haven't been able to sell the site.........

© Canberra Times