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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1751 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Corbell is doubtful. Mr Corbell has a very easy option - to block the fees. You have the thing coming in tomorrow. Move for disallowance; block the fees, Mr Corbell. This Government has excised this measure from the budget in order that the issue can be placed before the Assembly without any risk of blocking the budget or amending the budget by blocking those fees. We think this is the right thing to do. We have consulted with relevant parties about it - the National Parks Association, Friends of Tidbinbilla, and so on. We believe they understand that this is a project to restore an adequate level of funding to Tidbinbilla that is worth while. We do not know precisely how people will react to the process, but we do know that the improvements going on at Tidbinbilla will result in a better centre and a better nature conservation reserve for the people of the ACT. That is worth while investing in.

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, my question is addressed to the Chief Minister and is with reference to the CanTrade delegation to China. I gave her short notice that I would be asking a question about this issue. Could the Chief Minister advise the purpose of the visit by CanTrade to China? How many ACT public servants are on the trip? What is the cost of the exercise to the ACT taxpayer? What return to the public does the Chief Minister expect as a result of this outlay?

MRS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Moore, for the question. During the delegation to China in January this year the chairman of CanTrade, Jim Murphy, was invited by both the Beijing and Yungzhou governments to bring a further trade delegation back to China and to organise trade exhibitions in those cities. That was very exciting, Mr Speaker, because Canberra has never been in a position to be able to put together such a high-profile and far-reaching trade delegation as this one.

I am pleased to say that the delegation left Canberra yesterday morning. Members of the delegation include representatives of local businesses and government enterprises, concentrating in the fields of higher education, advanced technology, information technology, tourism and hospitality, and environment management. Delegation members include representatives from the ANU, ANUTech, the ACT Fire Brigade, the Association of Consulting Engineers, Telstra, Select Computer, Coms21, the Technik Group, Praxa, the Australian International Hotel School, Canberra Tourism and ACTEW. A list of the delegates and their areas of expertise is available for any member who would be interested.

The delegation will promote our local businesses and government enterprises with a view to further developing trade links with China. The strengths and capacity of those participating in this introduction, I suppose, of Canberra into China, I think, is an indication of the potential that local businesses see in the China market generally. It really shows that a lot of local businesses and other entities, like the ANU, really see that this is the way to go for Canberra. A number of presentations will be associated with this delegation. The delegation will have a number of meetings with various organisations.

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