Page 968 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 26 July 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR STEFANIAK: I ask a supplementary question on that. Does the Chief Minister have a series of written complaints supplied by several of the residents of that street? I have received drop copies which appear to have been sent to you as well?
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I cannot say that I have seen such correspondence. That does not mean that it has not been received in my office. I can only say that I personally have not actually seen it. I will check up on that and certainly deal with that aspect also in my reply.
Canberra Raiders
MR JENSEN: My question is directed to the Deputy Chief Minister. Will the Deputy Chief Minister disclose to the Assembly, preferably by tabling all relevant - I repeat "relevant" - documents, the terms of the agreement made between the ACT Government acting on behalf of Canberra's ratepayers and the management of the Canberra Raiders? If the Minister is unable to make a full and proper disclosure in this way, what are his reasons for not doing so?
MR WHALAN: The terms of the arrangement between the Canberra Raiders and the ACT Government were negotiated by Price Waterhouse on behalf of the ACT Government. They were negotiated on a commercial-in-confidence basis and the agreement will become the property of the trust when the trust is established to manage the stadium. Clearly then the members of the trust will become privy to the details of that particular arrangement. It is appropriate that that arrangement should remain confidential, and it will so remain. There are a number of reasons for that, not the least of which is the fact that the negotiations, which were quite protracted, gave rise to a certain set of conditions in relation to the hiring agreement. But for other users there may be different arrangements entered into. There may be a different relationship between the trust and others.
As the member will be aware, the Government has intended - and has achieved its objective in this direction - to make the Bruce Stadium in its redevelopment a multipurpose sporting venue. So we will be aiming to attract to that sporting venue a range of different sporting activities. Some of those might be on a one-off basis; some of them might be on a seasonal basis, whereby they contract for one, two or three occasions; others might be more regular, according to the pattern of the Canberra Raiders usage; but in each case there will probably be negotiated a separate contract of hiring. It is the practice throughout Australia that the trusts which manage venues of this sort do maintain confidentiality in relation to their hiring arrangements, and there seems no reason why there should be any departure from that practice in the case of the Bruce Stadium.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .