Page 3263 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 November 1992
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I also note that most of the things that that committee has examined at this time happen to be sporting facilities and sporting things. That is a good thing as well. Perhaps it makes us think about whether there is the possibility of one day grouping together the responsibilities of tourism and sport because they are so closely linked here in the ACT, once again because of the magnificent sporting facilities that we possess. Can I go a step further and suggest that the Government might consider the establishment of a high altitude sports training complex, at somewhere like Corin Forest, which might provide the opportunity for international athletes to come here and compete. I cannot speak too highly, I must admit, of the improvement in the relationship between the ACT Tourism Commission and the industry. I think a lot of that has to do with the stewardship of Mr David Lawrance - - -
Mr Lamont: That was not what you said yesterday.
MR DE DOMENICO: No, Mr Lamont; I did, yesterday, also heap praise on the ACT Tourism Commission. I did not say that it was perfect. None of us are. I did say that perhaps there may be some improvement. But I now, for the public record, Mr Lamont, pay tribute to Mr Lawrance for the way he has managed to pull together the industry and the commission as no other executive director has been able to do in recent times. I think that needs to be said. Mr Deputy Speaker, I also reiterate my comments of yesterday about the potential that there is in marketing the ACT in areas such as Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia in a coordinated way with the regional people with whom we now have a good relationship. I think that Canberra has enormous potential to attract visitors from those areas.
I said enough yesterday, I believe, about my continuing and passionate support for the ability of Canberra to attract the 2002 Commonwealth Games. I am delighted that we are supporting Sydney's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games. I think that is one way of saying that we are very interested in working in a cooperative way in the region. Once again, I applaud Gerry Peacocke and other Ministers in the New South Wales Government who seem to agree that Canberra might make a wonderful venue for the 2002 games. I will continue to support that as much as I can.
There seems to be, on the whole, great bipartisan support for the importance of this industry to the ACT. If we work together, perhaps we can improve the importance of that industry and make it easier for smaller business in the tourism industry to succeed. I think we can do a lot of great things to improve the job opportunities that the industry has in the future.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (11.56), in reply: Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr De Domenico for his comments. It is clear that on the issue of encouragement for tourism and the importance of tourism as an industry in the ACT there is a great deal of bipartisan support. Notwithstanding the fact that we will have some pretty vigorous debates on particular issues from time to time, I think that bipartisan support augurs very well for the future of this industry in the Territory.
Mr De Domenico raised some very interesting points. In particular, he highlighted some of the areas which tourism might wish to develop into in the future, and I think that is a valuable contribution to this debate. I share his interest in sport as a tourism attraction. As we know, the ACT has some of the
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