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There is a fairly long timeframe before the gem that Kingston will be will become sustainable. By all means go ahead with this international competition. It will bring good ideas, I am sure. But do not expect that we will be able to implement anything very rapidly. I think Kingston is a development that will proceed towards the end of this decade, at best. The Chief Minister has not got it off to the best start in the world and will have to come from behind to catch up on the disadvantage in respect of the Commonwealth responsibilities there; but, in terms of planning, we can recover. In terms of what goes on there, we can recover; but, if the Chief Minister continues to advance this development at the pace she has, what could have been a wonderful thing for Canberra will become something less than it should have been, and that worries me.

There is one other aspect in Mr De Domenico's paper that I will comment on, and it is the increasing competition around the States for business. We have seen Mr Kennett looking to raid the ACT for businesses. I do not know that that was very successful. We have heard Mr Carr in New South Wales say that he is going out there to get business. We have had understandings amongst States, agreed to by Ministers, that we will open up tendering arrangements to competition from all over Australia, and that probably has been a good thing. In the last term of her Government, Rosemary Follett, as Chief Minister, introduced a new Supply and Tender Agency that was to try to encourage local businesses, to see that they all have every opportunity to tender for our business, and that was good. That was just one of a large number of initiatives that the Labor Government took in support of business.

We did not go all the way, as some States have done, in providing incentives to private business. We did not do that. I would see that land was made available, but it had to be purchased. We did not make enormous concessions to business to come to Canberra. We provided them with every assistance we could to come to Canberra, but we did not provide the most direct of subsidies that some States do. It may be that we have to review some of our approaches in this respect. We may have to look again at it to see whether we are doing all we possibly can, in view of the aggressive nature of our neighbouring States, to attract and hold businesses to the ACT. I think that is a matter for review in the future.

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services and Minister for Business, Employment and Tourism) (4.24), in reply: Mr Speaker, the new Government has been in office for just a short time, yet we have clearly demonstrated our determination to honour our pre-election commitments. My statement to the Assembly last week mapped out some important aspects of the Liberal Government's agenda, and we are progressing quickly with implementation of our policies. I would like to reiterate that we will be seeking to stimulate economic growth and to ensure a promising future for Canberra in partnership with the business community and, indeed, the community as a whole. With this in mind I will look forward to working cooperatively and productively with members of the Assembly towards achieving the common goal of creating a competitive and prosperous business environment for the benefit of the whole community. In the short number of weeks we have been in government I have met and listened to many individuals, businesses and organisations. The enthusiasm and commitment being shown by these organisations is extremely heartening. I will ensure that the Liberal Government will harness and support this enthusiasm with sensible and proactive policies and programs.

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