Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 662 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Let us look at the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory spends $24m on tourism promotion and marketing. The Commonwealth Grants Commission recommended that the Northern Territory spend $7m. They have obviously made a very strategic decision that tourism is a vital sector for their economy and that, as a result, they are going to spend the money to attract the money, as my colleague says; spend the money to attract the visitors. They are being successful in doing that. But, instead, what we get from this Government is a Tourism and Events Corporation which does all the same things that Canberra Tourism does now; which will still require the Minister to approve everything, as he does now; and which will allow joint ventures, as Canberra Tourism can do now. It is window-dressing. That is all it is.

There are some specific amendments that are to be moved to this Bill, and those amendments are to be welcomed. I understand that the Government is happy to accept amendments dealing with ecological sustainability. I think that is an appropriate amendment when we focus on Canberra as the bush capital and on the high environmental consciousness of its residents. There are also amendments to deal with joint ventures. I am not quite sure where the Government is at with joint ventures; but certainly I feel that it is important that this Assembly should be made aware of any liability entered into which ultimately will need to be backed up by the ACT Government. I know that the Government was proposing a threshold of $500,000.

My understanding from Canberra Tourism is that it could enter into a wide range of joint ventures, each of maybe $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 or $50,000. On their own, they are not much; but when they accumulate, which is my understanding of what Canberra Tourism wants to do - it wants to have a very wide range of small joint ventures - the liability borne by the ACT Government ultimately will be quite large. For that reason, I think it is important that we see amendments in this Bill that enable the Assembly to be aware of exactly what liabilities are being entered into by the Government on behalf of the Assembly. I think it is important that this Assembly knows what plans the Canberra Tourism Corporation has for business plans in the coming year and also for amendments. I understand that the Government has proposed another amendment to that, which will deal with the issue of when these are advised to the Assembly. That seems to be a sensible approach.

Overall, Mr Speaker, the Labor Opposition will support this Bill because it will help give confidence to the industry in Canberra; but, on its own, it does not address the issue of promotion and marketing. I know that the Minister will get up in a moment and say that he has already made the offer about funding to the industry - a dollar for dollar contribution to tourism promotion in Canberra, up to $1m. Quite frankly, that is an absurd proposal. What happens if specific players in the tourism sector decide that they will contribute some money which the Government will match and other sectors do not? Who gets the benefits of that money? Will it be the people who donated it, the people who contributed? They are obviously going to expect some benefit. The Government needs to seriously address the whole issue of tourism promotion and marketing in this city.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .