Page 2167 - Week 08 - Thursday, 10 September 1992
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including a Shoalhaven Shire Council representative, before committee members returned to Canberra that evening. The committee appreciated the assistance of Mr Phil Jones, the Eurobodalla Shire tourism officer, in arranging this part of the program.
Madam Speaker, two factors stand out from the wealth of experiences encountered by the committee over the three days. These are the overwhelming tourist potential of the region and the cooperative efforts being made by regional operators and officials to broaden the tourism base for the benefit of the whole region. The tourism potential is limitless. It would defy rationality in almost any other part of the world, let alone in Australia, to accept that one can, as the committee did, emerge from heavy snowfalls and blizzards and ideal skiing conditions at 8.30 am and two hours later be at a seaside resort in 20-degree swimming weather on the south coast. Madam Speaker, this conveys something of the opportunities and the challenges open to Canberra and the region, namely, to manage this substantial tourism resource in such a way that all of the Canberra and south-east region can prosper from promoting the myriad attractions it has to offer.
Madam Speaker, some eight million Australians live within a day's drive of the region, and Canberra is a maximum of three hours' drive from any part of it. How the ACT community can take advantage of its unique central position and work cooperatively with regional shire and New South Wales tourism authorities to develop its own potential will be included in the committee's report on its tourism reference which will be presented to the Assembly in the near future. Madam Speaker, in the meantime, the committee has been invited to a meeting of the Canberra Region Tourism Marketing Group in Queanbeyan on 11 September, tomorrow, when ideas about enhancing tourism returns will be discussed. The committee also plans to visit other areas of the region, including the alpine region, during the summer to assess the tourism side benefits for the ACT.
MR KAINE: Madam Deputy Speaker - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: No, I am the Speaker.
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you. I would gladly be the deputy, but I do not have that option.
MR KAINE: I do not know whether he moved that the paper be noted. If not, I will seek leave to make a statement in connection with the matter to which Mr De Domenico referred.
Leave granted.
MR KAINE: Thank you, members. It seems to me, Madam Speaker, that this visit by Mr De Domenico and the members of his committee is probably one of the more important things that members of this Assembly have undertaken in recent months. I think that we have long recognised the interrelationships of Canberra and the surrounding area. It was for that reason that the South East Economic Development Council was established - to look at the resources jointly possessed in this region; the human resources and other resources which, by being brought together, constitute a very significant economic unity and social unity.
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