Page 323 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
a clear and irrefutable case for the track being torn up there. It has not been put so far, and I hope that if it is put we will all be able to change our point of view and accept wholeheartedly the move to the Bruce Stadium by the Canberra Raiders.
MR JENSEN (4.05): I will try not to take up too much of the valuable time of members gathered here. I also would like to thank Mr Stefaniak for raising this important issue today, especially in the lead-up to the budget deliberations. We must, unfortunately, continue to remind ourselves that the Federal Government saw fit to lock up $22m in a trust fund. I refer, of course, to the suggestion that there will be a considerable cost to the ratepayers of the ACT following an arrangement sponsored by the member for Canberra from the other place and the previous Minister.
It would be most unfortunate if we in the ACT found ourselves saddled with the cost of running what is really a national facility. It is a national facility, Mr Speaker, that should not be allowed to become a millstone around the neck of the ratepayers of the ACT, especially when the proposal seems to suggest that major changes will be made to the stadium to prevent the sort of activity for which it was designed being conducted.
During the campaign and subsequent to the 4 March election, we in the Rally received numerous comments, as I know the rest of my colleagues in this place also did, from concerned members of the public and athletic organisations. One has only to read the local paper to see the numerous questions and comments that have been raised by the residents, ratepayers and voters of the ACT on this important question. The key to their concern seems to be the need to ensure that the proposed changes to the stadium can cater for the move, but they may end up in costly modifications which would damage the ability of this important facility to support the type of activity that would encourage the international level of activity that was one of the reasons for its construction.
During the earlier debate on tourism within the ACT, it was suggested that it was important to encourage international tourists to visit this city. The holding of the World Cup in the ACT some years ago, to which Mr Humphries referred, was such an event. It will be unfortunate, Mr Speaker, if we are unable to conduct a similar sort of meet to that in the future with the expected improvements in the ACT's economy. What is being proposed, it would seem, is the spending of a considerable amount of money to cater for 12 to 15 games of rugby league per year at some considerable cost, especially if we as a community have to pay the cost of this move.
Before I go on, Mr Speaker, I would like to comment briefly on my own feelings in relation to this. As a Queenslander I have played both codes of rugby, so I enjoy my game of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .