Discussions between the ACT and NSW governments about expanding the territory's border are ongoing as land constraints have forced officials to consider whether development of the land has to be brought forward.
There is also a push for the ACT to build a water pipeline to Murrumbateman to offset any lost rates revenue for the Yass Valley Council.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet have discussed the border move in Canberra's north on the sidelines of national cabinet meetings.
The ACT government has long pushed for the territory border to be expanded in the north-west to incorporate the Parkwood land, which is in NSW and is part of the Yass Valley Council.
Parkwood will form part of the ACT government's joint venture Ginninderry development, in west Belconnen.
Development of Parkwood is not expected to start until 2032, but documents released under freedom of information show territory government officials are considering whether work on the NSW land will need to start earlier.
Minutes from a meeting in July last year between territory and NSW government officials and representatives from Yass Valley Council show that officials spoke about constraints around land supply in the territory.
Officials said this was due to delays with the closure and remediation of the Belconnen landfill site and that all ACT land had been sold.
"The project is effectively out of land until the environmental clearance zones have been remediated appropriately for development," an ACT official told the meeting.
"This has highlighted a low risk that it may be necessary to develop NSW land earlier than anticipated, such as in five years time where it was previously not anticipated until 2032.
"The potential border move is likely to take a significant amount of time to resolve and progressing consideration of service provision planning may need to overlap."
An ACT government spokeswoman said the government would consider whether the release of the land would need to be brought forward as part of the government's land release program.
"Any such decision would be made in consideration of the government's indicative land release program at the applicable point in time," she said.
The Parkwood land is within the Yass Valley Council and the council could push the ACT government to agree to build a water pipeline to Murrumbateman to offset rates revenue from the land.
This was presented to the council in a meeting in October last year.
The spokeswoman said the NSW government had not raised this proposal with the ACT government.
There are nine properties in the Parkwood area and five landowners, including the ACT government which bought two blocks in 2021.
Mr Perrottet gave the green light for negotiations about the move to start last year.
Mr Barr said, at the time, the NSW Premier had given in-principle support for the move and the Chief Minister confidently proclaimed the border would be changed.
But documents have shown the NSW government had agreed to negotiations on a "no commitment basis and alongside exploration of other service delivery options".
The ACT government spokeswoman said over recent months there had been discussions between Mr Barr and Mr Perrottet and other discussions had also taken place between officials from both governments.
Mr Barr has also raised the issue with NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns ahead of the next month's NSW election.
"Advice from NSW officials is that the necessary internal governance arrangements are being put in place to support the border move discussion with the ACT," the spokeswoman said.
"Work will progress further after the NSW election in March."
The ACT also received advice in September about legislation needed to enable the border move.
The advice said NSW would likely have to surrender the land to the Commonwealth and the federal government would then amend legislation to incorporate Parkwood into the ACT.
However, notes from a September meeting also indicated there had "been conversations as to if a referendum was necessary". It said further legal advice was being sought.
The Canberra Times inquired about this and whether the advice had been received. The ACT government spokeswoman replied: "the government has received no advice that a referendum is necessary".
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