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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 1829 ..

MR DE DOMENICO (continuing):

I also take on board Mr Osborne's comment that ACTAFL ought to put up or shut up. I do not think Mr Osborne should talk much about his rugby league connections because of what is happening in terms of Super League, Mr Speaker. I am suggesting that perhaps ACTAFL might have done a lot more work behind the scenes than Mr Osborne gives them credit for. It would be an aberration if only one sport were played at Bruce Stadium. It is a facility that belongs to the entire community, and it would be a pity if we could play only one sport there. I must also agree with Mr Osborne when he said that it is looking good in certain areas of the Tuggeranong Valley, in the electorate that I represent, because of the indoor sports facility which is going ahead. That was a commitment made by the Liberal Party before the election. Another commitment was the refurbishment of the Erindale Centre. I can say that because I was the person many years ago who was pushing the former Government to do that. I am glad to see that this Government has decided to take that on board.

Most of the time Mr Moore makes a lot of sense. He did have a go at the Minister for not talking too much about recreation; but if Mr Moore ever played any sport with the Minister he would realise that it is not just a sport, it is a recreation, either because of the laugh when he tackles you or when he misses you, or the other laugh when I try to run away. I am sure that the Minister will reply accordingly; but yes, perhaps too much emphasis is placed on sport and not enough on some of the other things that you can call recreation.

I was most interested to hear what Ms McRae had to say. You expect such a response from the Opposition - knock, knock, knock; negative, negative, negative. But then she went further and talked about social justice and how some people could not afford the cost of certain equipment. I agree with Ms McRae, but once again she suggested that the responsibility lies with this Government. That is nonsense. If Ms McRae is really concerned about the cost of sporting equipment she might have a chat to her Federal colleagues and perhaps they might remove the sales tax that is on sporting equipment. If I am not too incorrect, it was increased by 20 per cent in the last Federal budget. She might talk to her Federal Government about that. It is not just the responsibility of this Minister that things cost a lot of money. She also talked about health and blamed this Minister for everything. That is a typically simplistic view that the people in opposition take from time to time.

She also blamed this Minister because there were no toilets on the Campbell playing fields, for heaven's sake. I would be delighted to have toilets at the Banks playing field and, as Mr Kaine said, we would be delighted to have toilets at the Wanniassa Oval, which was previously used by Aussie rules but is going to be used by soccer, and also at the Conder ovals. I think the Conder ovals have just got their toilets, actually. Mr Kaine, I agree with you; it is not an oval. I run around the Conder Oval and it is slightly square, I must admit. Yes, it would be lovely if every oval in the ACT had all the facilities, a stand for 5,000 people and all sorts of things; but this Minister in this Government, like any other government, by the way, has a limited amount of resources, and it is up to government to spend those resources in the best way possible.

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