Page 3039 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 5 December 1989
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In keeping with our commitment to involve the community in decision making processes, we established a high-level advisory committee to provide independent and considered advice about the project. We directed that the committee should immediately consult the ACT community to identify issues of concern. This process has been singularly successful. The committee has undertaken its task with vigour and has combined its consultative role with one of raising public awareness about the VFT project. I understand that, as of last Friday, almost 50 submissions had been received on various aspects of the VFT and its implications for Canberra. Following a highly successful display at the new Canberra Centre, held jointly by the committee and the VFT joint venture, the committee is now planning a series of public meetings to seek broader community reaction to the project. The committee's first report to Government will provide a firm basis on which to assess and plan for this important project.
Our approach to the VFT proposal is to view it as an opportunity, not as a problem. We have consistently acknowledged that the project - if it goes ahead - will have to meet with a high standard of environmental and social impact assessment. The potential impact of a VFT on the ACT is enormous. In its design, construction and operation, a VFT would bring new industry and new jobs to Canberra. Up to $200m in design work alone and $500m in construction expenditure in this region would be some of the early benefits available to the Canberra community.
In operation, a VFT would accelerate growth in those sectors we need to broaden and strengthen the ACT economy: finance and business services; clean light manufacturing, and sport, recreation and tourism. Market studies predict an additional 300,000 tourists visiting Canberra each year with consequent flow-on benefits in terms of jobs and new business opportunities. We have much to gain from a rational and considered approach which is not diverted by side issues and point scoring. This Government has demonstrated that it has the credentials to provide that approach.
I have already mentioned that the section 19 redevelopment is a model of the innovative approach this Government has taken with major projects. That development, the subject of no fewer than five inquiries, will provide some 2,700 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase and 1,800 jobs when in operation. It will also provide immediate revenue with which the Government will fund community facilities, and ongoing revenue from casino taxation.
This important project is, of course, now directly threatened by today's motion of no confidence. One party to the motion has made its intentions quite clear and there is nothing that the other could do, despite its protestations, to prevent the undermining and eventual scuttling of the project. The Liberal Party's shameless
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