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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (18 October) . . Page.. 1832 ..

Ms McRae: What else does it mean?

MR STEFANIAK: People pay for fields at present. People pay to go into other government facilities.

Ms McRae: And they are going to pay more.

MR STEFANIAK: They are not necessarily going to pay more; it is the way in which you do it.

Ms McRae: Why bother changing it? Go on with you.

MR STEFANIAK: It is the way in which you do it to make it more efficient. There are any number of places throughout Australia run by various groups where they do not charge more than they do here, but they certainly do not lose the amount of money we do. We are about making things better. That is something that the Government intends to do during its term here. It is a question of providing the service, and a good service, as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. Obviously, the Government has to spend money. As I mentioned yesterday, I think $1.79m is spent by the Government on pools. If we can cut back there, if that is dropped by, say, $500,000, that is a significant improvement. Obviously, we are still going to have to spend some money, but we do not have to continue to do things the way they always have been done when clearly that is not efficient.

I listened with interest to the comments by Mr Moore and Ms McRae about recreation. As I consider myself to be a well-rounded person, though not just physically, as Mr Moore might suggest, it is important that recreation is properly dealt with here. Maybe there could have been more on recreation in that paper. It is a very good point that Mr Moore raises. I am acutely aware of it. In fact, the Sport and Recreation Council is looking at the question of recreation. I have had meetings with several people in the recreation industry. I am very interested in what they say. I am very pleased to see their interest and the fact that they are prepared to push government, to advise government and to make very concrete suggestions. The way you get people into sports is to first get them into recreation.

We are somewhat blessed in Canberra in terms of some great natural facilities, and some man-made facilities as well. In relation to the natural facilities, we have the mountains and we have the rivers. In terms of artificial facilities that are constructed, we have probably the best bike path system in Australia, and this Government is extending that, I am pleased to see, in the budget. It is not in the sports budget but it is, I think, in my colleague Mr Humphries's budget. Bike paths are going into Gungahlin. The bike paths are something that we can all be very proud of. We have some other excellent recreational facilities throughout Canberra as well.

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