Page 2989 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
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TOURISM AND A.C.T. PROMOTION - STANDING COMMITTEE
Report on an International Airport in the ACT
Debate resumed from 16 June 1994, on motion by Mr Westende:
That the report be noted.
MS SZUTY (11.50): Madam Speaker, I especially enjoyed my role as a member of the Standing Committee on Tourism and ACT Promotion in its inquiry into the question of whether an international airport should be established in the ACT. Before I comment on a number of the major issues addressed by the committee in our report, I would like to comment briefly on how my fellow committee members appear to see me from time to time and my value to the committee process on most occasions. A number of members of the Assembly have expressed to me their appreciation of my attention to detail and spellchecking capability. However, I would like to remind members that I am also capable, I believe, of taking a visionary view and looking at Canberra's future in broad and expansive terms. Members will recall that I moved a motion in the Assembly to address the issue of Canberra in the year 2020. This inquiry also has called on the ability of members to look into the future and, in particular, to focus on the need by the year 2000 for an international airport or an airport with international capability.
Madam Speaker, as the Assembly has much on its agenda today and as the former committee chair, Mr Westende, spoke at length in the report about the inquiry process, I will focus my comments on the committee's recommendations. There are several of them. The first recommendation, which is fairly lengthy, appears in paragraph 5.13 of the committee's report. In broad terms, the committee firmly believes that further study of the issue of whether the ACT needs an international airport or an airport with international capability remains firmly on the agenda. However, the study will need to be timely, to decide whether an incremental upgrade or an upgrade forthwith will be necessary to enable the ACT to take full advantage of the opportunities available to us at the end of the century. Members will also be aware of the Federal Government's announced plans for the sale of all Australian airports operated by the Federal Airports Corporation. The implications of this decision are yet to be assessed. I understand that that issue is taking quite a deal of the Government's attention at the present time.
The second of the committee's recommendations appears in paragraph 6.16. It reads:
The committee recommends that the Government, in co-operation with the ACT and region tourism industry, develop strategies to attract suitable international carriers which on fly from Cairns and Darwin to Brisbane and Sydney to terminate their flights at Canberra.
The recommendation at paragraph 7.14 also talks about the need to look at an upgrading of tourism generally in the ACT to achieve the potential result of an international airport for the ACT in the future. There is no question that a significant component of generating tourism demand is successful marketing and promotion, which encourage tourists to visit particular areas of the ACT. I believe that it is absolutely vital that the ACT and region continue to develop strategies which will market our region more effectively. I note that
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