Page 315 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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that view. A number of matches have been played there, they have all had large attendances, and we have to assess the necessity for spending the proposed amount of money at the risk of ripping up this facility. I submit that the track can be used all year round not only by the Raiders and by the odd international rugby union match, but also by major athletic events without the necessity for preparing and upgrading a whole new warm-up track. Those questions have to be addressed, and addressed quickly.
Mr Speaker, I call on this Government to provide this Assembly with full details of the costs. They have not yet been provided. The Deputy Chief Minister has undertaken to do so, but I think time is marching on and I would call for those costs as a matter of urgency. I call for this Assembly to be provided with full details of the proposed alterations, including the costs. I also call on the Government to provide this Assembly with full details of any alternatives to ripping up that main running track, including costs. Finally, I call on the Government to justify the proposal as it currently stands.
MR WOOD (3.37): Mr Speaker, as an enthusiastic member of the Canberra community and now as a member of this Assembly, I am most interested in the image of Canberra and the character of our city. Indeed, it is a city that has sometimes been described as one without character. I am concerned about all the tangible and intangible factors which determine the character of any city. I guess some of those would relate to the type of predominant employment in a city. In this place it is the public service. It is not rural or industrial. It flows from the socioeconomic background of people, their cultural interests and the manner in which they express them. All these factors contribute to a city's character.
A most substantial factor, more than we ever realise, is sport. It hit me some considerable time ago now when for the first time I stood on the sideline of a sporting field here and shouted, "Come on, Canberra". I was barracking for my son who was playing in the under 11s second ACT hockey team. Through sport, perhaps more than other areas given our somewhat ocker culture, we identify with our city. I did not just support a hockey team when I was barracking; I was supporting the Canberra community.
The Canberra Raiders and the Canberra Cannons have played an enormous role in establishing a loyalty, a community feeling and a support for this city. I can mention those two perhaps at the top of the list because they are the most successful symbols. But there is a vast range of sporting groups in every imaginable sport that send people away carrying the name Canberra, and they do a great deal to help in a community feeling.
The move of the Canberra Raiders to the stadium is not just a move, in my view, for the Canberra Raiders. It is a move for sport generally. I do not expect that the Bruce
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