Page 151 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 May 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
casinos to make up their minds about - by being an additional thing that tourists can do in Canberra, it will add to the total picture of Canberra as a place to come to. I am not saying that it is going to attract hordes of tourists to Canberra. I do not believe that it will, but for those tourists who do come it is one added thing that they can do in the evenings, if they want to do other things during the daytime.
There is also the other question of the section 19 development itself, irrespective of the casino, and that is whether or not that development is a good development and the whole context of the development of City Hill and matters like that. I think that that is a matter for inquiry but, of course, it is not encompassed in this particular inquiry, which will address only questions of the casino on sites other than section 19. I think we need to make clear that this inquiry is directed at the possible consequences of a casino on sites other than section 19. So let us be clear about that.
Although the mover of the motion has raised the question of the section 19 development in the context of City Hill and the city centre it is not, in fact, a part of the proposal that he has put forward. We need to be clear on what it is that the inquiry is about. As I understand it, it is about the impact on this community in various ways of a casino on a site other than section 19 and we need to be clear about that. As long as that is clearly understood and people do not have unreal expectations of what this committee might come up with, then I believe it is a good inquiry and one that we support.
MR COLLAERY (11.00): Briefly, as Leader of the Residents Rally, may I say that I support all of the comments made by my colleague Mr Kaine. I think this is an historic moment.
MR BERRY (Minister for Community Services and Health) (11.01): I have some difficulty with the motion moved by Mr Moore, mostly because of my experience in negotiations with the Residents Rally in the lead-up to the formation of this Government. Throughout those negotiations the Rally, by the way that it handled itself, made it clear to the Australian Labor Party group that the Rally was out to stop the casino, and that is what I think this motion is about.
This is another stunt to delay and prevent development in the Territory. I think it is about time that the Residents Rally came out in the open on this issue and made it clear what they are on about. They are about the prevention of the casino development going ahead. That is clear, and that is clear from the knowledge that I have from the experience that we jointly developed with each other in the negotiating room when we tried to form a government, at which time the casino issue became a focal point.
We know about the suggestions that the casino be sited on some border somewhere where it would not work.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .