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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 660 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

to support this amendment because I believe it is the beginning of trying to integrate what we need to be doing with property management agreements and the conservation and land management issues involved there with the very work of looking at leases, the financial and economic implications of leases, and how that task force is looking at those issues. I think it is important to integrate them.

MR CORBELL (11.20): Mr Speaker, the Government has raised some concerns about the Greens' amendments which I previously was not aware of. I think it would be useful if all parties concerned had an opportunity to discuss that further. I move:

That the debate be adjourned until a later hour this day.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Debate resumed from 5 December 1996, on motion by Mr De Domenico:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR CORBELL (11.21): Mr Speaker, this Bill, the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation Bill, is not what it seems. The Government claims that this Bill will create an authority of the Government, and they are calling it a corporation, saying that it has to operate like a company; it is going to bring the tourism industry more into line with the private sector. In reality, this Bill does nothing of the sort. In reality, this Bill is window-dressing for a government which is failing to address the needs of tourism in Canberra. The Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation Bill does not create a corporation like ACTEW or Totalcare; it creates a statutory authority, still with a line item in the budget and still requiring the Minister to direct overall the operations of the corporation. So, it is not a corporation.

Certainly, it is welcomed fairly widely across the industry because of a belief that it will create a greater private sector emphasis for Canberra Tourism. But the reality, I am afraid, is quite different. The reality is that the corporation Bill does not empower Canberra Tourism to do anything extra to what it currently does. The Minister has outlined that the Bill allows Canberra Tourism to enter into joint ventures with private sector operators to promote Canberra. The reality is that Canberra Tourism can do that now. Canberra Tourism now can enter into joint ventures with private sector operators, with the approval of the Minister. If you examine the Bill, you will find that the Bill says exactly the same thing. It reiterates what is already the case. This Bill also allows for the creation of a board, which will, apparently, direct the operations of the corporation; but all the decisions of the board must be approved by the Minister. The Minister has the final say on what Canberra Tourism does and does not do. That is exactly the same situation as exists now.

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