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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1901 ..

MR DE DOMENICO (continuing):

The Government is particularly keen to have the commercial aired on regional television stations throughout New South Wales. Funding has been allocated in the 1996-97 budget for that purpose. Canberra Tourism has worked tirelessly to put this fantastic commercial together. Without it, Canberra would surely have missed out on vital national exposure. Mr Speaker, the commercial is not limited to television. It is also being used extensively by Canberra Tourism at a variety of important functions, including consumer shows, trade fairs, shopping centre promotions and industry presentations, and at point of sale opportunities in Canberra travel embassies located at Countrylink travel centres. The success of the commercial and promotional video is furthermore assured, given their availability to cooperative marketing partners from all sectors of the ACT tourism industry for use in their marketing and promotional campaigns.

But, Mr Speaker, effective promotion does not end with television and video presentation. Print can be just as powerful, as a lot of members of this Assembly tend to think from time to time. I refer to a special Australian supplement published only last week in the Washington Times newspaper. It consisted of an eight-page lift-out under the headline "Australia: One hundred days of Change", which was all about our recent change of government and its effect on the nation. Not only did the article explore the rest of the nation; it also featured a half-page spread on Canberra. The piece focused on Canberra's diverse and attractive way of life under the headings, "A great place to live", "A great place to visit", "A great place to do business", and "Environmental management". Mr Speaker, this is a most exciting development for Canberra Tourism, one that adds weight to our interest in entering the lucrative American tourism market.

MR HIRD: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Can the Minister inform the house as to whether the Government is using this as a platform so that it can boost the opportunities for job creation within that industry?

MR DE DOMENICO: The short answer to Mr Hird's unrehearsed supplementary is yes, of course it is.

Mr Berry: But it is not working very well. There are a lot of unemployed people out there.

MR DE DOMENICO: I am glad that Mr Berry interjects, because it gives me another opportunity to speak. The question asked by Mr Hird gives you an idea of the difference between those opposite and people on this side of the house. When those opposite want to do things they use Bankcard, borrow money and spend it. We on this side of the house work closely with the private sector. Here we have commercials being aired all over the south-eastern seaboard of Australia, free of charge. We are not paying for them. We are working closely with the private sector. All future jobs in the ACT, as we know, will have to come, or will come predominantly, from the private sector. They will come because we in this Government work very closely with the private sector - unlike the ones opposite, who would not even know what a private person looked like.

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