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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (22 November) . . Page.. 2284 ..

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, the document promotes Ministers. I ask a supplementary question. Bearing in mind statements from the now Government when they were in opposition about the then Government paying for the promotion of Ministers, will you continue with this style of government that you formerly condemned?

MR DE DOMENICO: I thank Mr Wood for his question. I agree with Mr Wood. The Government will continue with the style of government that continues to promote the benefits and the beauty of Canberra as a place to do business. We will promote the benefits of Canberra so that sporting teams from Malaysia, hopefully from South Africa, hopefully from Italy, and hopefully from anywhere else around the world will come here. We are one of the best kept secrets in the world. The previous Government sat on its hands for five years and did nothing. As the Chief Minister's recent trip to Japan proves, if you spend money judiciously, if you do the right thing, and if you know what you are talking about when it comes to doing business, business does come to Canberra. When business comes to Canberra, employment grows. When employment grows, everybody else is happy.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, my question is to Mr De Domenico in his capacity as Minister for Urban Services and Minister for Business, Employment and Tourism, so he has to juggle two hats. I refer to the November-December 1995 edition of "Target Tourism", and I would like to quote briefly from it, Mr Speaker. In it Mr Marshall refers to "unfortunate obstacles" and says:

There are few more annoying and downright damaging to Canberra's image than overzealous parking inspectors.

I believe we must try to convince our parking inspectors to show a little discretion when dealing with our interstate guests because one thoughtless act or word has the potential to destroy years of image building.

I table a copy of the article, for the information of members.

MR SPEAKER: You will need leave.

Leave granted.

MR WHITECROSS: Thank you. As the Minister for Urban Services, Mr De Domenico, and hence being responsible for parking operations, do you agree with the comments of the chief executive officer of Canberra Tourism? Did the chief executive officer make his views known to you before they were published?

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