Page 3220 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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later another week's work, then two months later a week's work, and so on throughout the year. We are trying to create in Canberra a climate where we have a level of tourism events, a level of tourism participation, which allows for substantial permanent employment within this industry.
It is interesting to see what events of national significance will be undertaken in the ACT on a repetitive basis. What can we develop in our tourism industry that from year to year, when all put together, will provide a solid block of attractions for the tourist dollar in Australia? Some of those events have been discussed and debated here this afternoon. The inaugural Canberra Fishing Festival in 1993 is a new initiative. Fishing is the largest recreational sport in Australia. The dollars that are spent by fisherpersons throughout this country are the most significant dollars spent in a recreational sport in this country.
Mr Humphries: What do the fish think?
MR LAMONT: The fish? If you want to accuse people of being fish killers, Mr Humphries, you are free to do so. I have a different view from that.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please do not take the bait, Mr Lamont. Continue.
MR LAMONT: That is a worn line, Mr Deputy Speaker. The inaugural fishing festival next year will provide a significant base for the attraction of people to this region during a period when historically we have a fairly low attraction rate.
The National Folk Festival is to be held at Easter next year. The National Folk Festival from year to year has gone around Australia, from State to State, but the National Folk Trust have agreed to allow it to be held here in the ACT on a continuing basis. As an example, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Maleny Festival, a similar festival that has operated in Queensland for some years, attracts 40,000 participants over a four-day weekend. I think it is generally held around about the New Year weekend. It is anticipated, considering the 10,000 to 15,000 persons who attended the folk festival which was held on the campus of the ANU last year, that the event in the ACT could prove to be as significant over time as the Maleny Festival.
Recently announced also was the proposal for a National Science Festival to be run shortly after the Canberra Week Festival next year. It is anticipated that that festival will become the pre-eminent science exhibition in this country. Indeed, because of our juxtaposition to South East Asia, it will become one of the most significant scientific festivals within the region. There is also a proposal under consideration in relation to environmental technologies and environmentally related issues. That is proposed, at this stage, for November next year. The work which is being done through Natex, which is looking to host that program, has been significant. If it is able to be realised at 50 per cent it will be an exciting prospect here in the Australian Capital Territory.
Above all, Mr Deputy Speaker, what we need is not vilification about whether or not a particular attitude by individuals is the right one to adopt about tourism; what we need is the cooperation and support of everybody in this chamber for any activity which induces a new event, a new attraction into the ACT. It was for that reason, as outlined in the report tabled by the Speaker earlier this week, that I took the opportunity to travel to Lightning Ridge and the Walgett Shire.
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