Page 284 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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. the scope for minimising cyclical aspects of tourism and maintaining a continuous demand for tourist related facilities through co-ordination of cultural activities, festivals, conventions and recurring and special events in the ACT and the region.
3. The extent to which the image of and perceptions about the ACT community held by other Australians are coloured by media reporting and comments about the Federal Parliament, the effect this has on promoting the ACT and measures to counter adverse publicity about the ACT.
4. Any related matters which may arise.
I believe that this is going to be a bipartisan committee - I mean that - that is going to look into something that I think is of concern to all of us here, in particular "Canberra bashing", of which a lot has been said in the media in recent times. Madam Speaker, I commend to the Assembly the new inquiry of the ACT Promotion Committee.
MS SZUTY, by leave: As a member of the Standing Committee on Tourism and ACT Promotion in the Second ACT Legislative Assembly, I would like to support the initial inquiry and its terms of reference. I feel that identifying the contribution of Canberra's tourism sector to the community is very important in the bid to meet the industry's changing needs. No longer a country centre, Canberra is now recognised as part of an important region which offers a broad spectrum of activities for visitors. Our wineries have national and international reputations for their produce. The festival calendar already includes several major events, including Floriade, the Canberra Festival and the Summernats.
The establishment of this standing committee and its inquiry will focus a great deal of attention on the need to promote effectively all aspects of the ACT and explore opportunities to increase tourism to Canberra and the region. The committee has comprehensive terms of reference under which to perform its task and a generous timetable which will allow a thorough job to be done. I am especially pleased that we are going to examine the potential for expanding tourism in the longer term, giving the industry a focus, direction and framework for many years to come, including the possibility of attracting the Commonwealth Games to the ACT around the turn of the century.
I am keen to meet with people from the tourism and hospitality industries and to hear their views during this most important inquiry. As well, I hope that the aspect of the committee's inquiry which was highlighted by the chairman after its first meeting - that is, tackling the issue of Canberra bashing - will generate a lot of community support. It is an important community issue that promotion of our national capital should be a natural and proud thing for a Canberran to do, and we should make an all-out effort to remove from the minds of Australians living outside Canberra the indelible impression of ACT residents as "fat cats" and the people to blame for the country's woes.
MR LAMONT, by leave: Madam Speaker, I concur with the views of the two previous speakers in relation to the terms of reference that this committee has adopted, but I wish to refer particularly to one specific item which has received a great deal of airing this evening. One of the specific terms of reference that have
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