Page 2619 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 October 1992
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In addition to that, there are a range of economic development initiatives which have been designed to stimulate employment growth. That stimulation of employment growth is in the medium to longer term and will enable the private sector to take advantage of emerging opportunities. These initiatives include, firstly, the establishment of a tourism development unit within the Tourism Commission to attract and develop new events and to identify gaps in existing tourism infrastructure, resulting in increased visitor numbers and the likelihood of improving employment prospects, particularly for young people; secondly, the instigation of studies aimed at the development of Canberra as a centre for regional and national freight distribution and warehousing; thirdly, investigating the establishment of an ACT centre for training in waste management at the ACT Institute of Technology, to offer specialised training for people working in waste management in both government and private industry, and offering longer-term employment development prospects.
The initiatives also include support for an international hotel management project with the aim of establishing an international hotel management school in the ACT to train hotel managers to the highest international standards. They also include coordinating and marketing ACT training through the cooperation of public and private sector providers with the local business sector. Madam Speaker, in keeping with the Government's commitment to social justice, the budget provides growth funds to community organisations in recognition of additional demand for services and increasing costs. These community organisations are, themselves, significant employers. We heard that from Ms Szuty yesterday. This action will, thereby, assist employment in what is a very labour intensive area.
These initiatives build on the wide range of existing government programs, such as those relating to Jobline, Involve, the innovative venture and development assistance scheme, the women's employment strategy, the tradeswomen on the move program, and revised Government Service recruitment practices to enable youth to compete more effectively for ASO1 and ASO2 positions. I am sure that Mr De Domenico will be interested to note that that last point that I mentioned was a recommendation of the EPACT report that has, in fact, been implemented forthwith.
The ACT Government, Madam Speaker, is committed to supporting the ACT private sector. Indeed, the future prospects for Canberra are fundamentally linked to the private sector. In this context there are a range of private sector initiatives that the Government has been pursuing over the past year. They include, obviously, the decision to build a casino in the ACT. That will result in the creation of 280 jobs in the construction phase and approximately 500 permanent jobs on completion. The interim casino will provide an estimated 350 to 400 jobs, and that will be commencing operation in mid-November of this year. The other initiatives include the Harcourt Hill tourist resort in the Gold Creek area; telecommunications projects with both Telecom and Optus; support for the development of ACT cooperative research centres and the clinical school; and an enhanced commitment to marketing and promotion through the South East Economic Development Council, particularly in the areas of communications and technology.
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