Page 3543 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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I am delighted that Sydney has put in a bid. I have to say this, by the way, because I am originally from Sydney and I have a deep and abiding affection for that city. I think that if the Games are centred there it will be a magnificent achievement and Sydney will do the Games proud. I do not support Mr Lamont's accusation that the promotion of Canberra for the 2002 Commonwealth Games will have a negative impact upon Sydney's bid. This is a nonsense.
Mr De Domenico: Sydney does not think so.
MR CORNWELL: Mr De Domenico confirms that Sydney does not believe so and I cannot see any reason why it should. I believe that we could almost put up a package on this sort of thing - that the Olympics be held there in 2000 and the Commonwealth Games be held here in 2002.
The fact is that there are significant benefits to the ACT in bidding for the 2002 Commonwealth Games if Sydney obtains the Olympics in 2000. Obviously, as has already been pointed out, there will be warm-up venues. There would be the opportunity for people to train outside Sydney, and what better place than Canberra, a short distance from the Games venues? People could train here before going to the main events down there in Sydney. We do have facilities here, but some of them might require a little upgrading. I stress that word "little". We have shooting facilities; we have rowing facilities; we have Bruce Stadium, as already mentioned, which could be used for a variety of sports. The fact is that we are very well placed to provide those facilities. In providing the warm-up areas for the Olympics we would be adding to the facilities that we could provide in two years' time for the Commonwealth Games. I believe that that could strengthen our claim for them. It would, of course, be an add-on advantage for tourism. People could visit here when visiting for the Olympics. They could then assess for themselves whether they wished to come back here in two years' time to the Commonwealth Games.
I find strange the suggestion that for the next two or three times the Commonwealth Games will be held in developing nations. I think we have to remember that what we are looking at is the Commonwealth Games, not the Olympic Games. It has already been suggested that Sydney will be paying the air fares for some of the Third World countries to attend the Olympics. I think it speaks for itself, Madam Speaker, that a great many countries, developing nations particularly, would have difficulty in funding the infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games. I would think that any responsible and prudent developing country would be looking very seriously at whether they should be putting that sort of money into the infrastructure when, very clearly, they have many other demands on health, on education and on infrastructure development.
Mr Berry talked about whether it is worthwhile putting $100,000 into a feasibility study for the Commonwealth Games in 2002. I would remind Mr Berry that there is still to be a decision on what to do with the $19m casino premium. The Chief Minister herself has said that this money should be put into community, cultural and heritage facilities. I do not see why $100,000 of that could not be hived off if you want to do a feasibility study for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. I think that would be money very well spent, and it
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