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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2102 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

I come now to Mr Corbell on tourism. Mr Speaker, I do not know in what world Mr Corbell lives. He has a lot to say; but he does not convey any sense in what he says. The Government is doing a great deal about tourism. If he did not like the corporation that we are just about to set up, if he did not like the fact that some decisions that the corporation might want to take require the Minister's approval because there is public money involved still, why did he not say so during the debate on the floor of the house? Why did he not put forward an amendment? If he believes that it can be improved, why did he not put forward some amendments to make it work better? He talks about muddle-headedness. The point is, Mr Speaker, that, when he was debating the Bill, either he did not understand what he was debating and he has now had some second thoughts about it or he did agree with the Government's approach and now, with an election approaching, he is taking a different view because he thinks that it might get him a vote or two somewhere along the line.

Anybody that listens to what Mr Corbell says would not vote for him for dog keeper, let alone Tourism Minister. Mr Speaker, he says, "Why have an information centre if there are not any tourists to use it?". Over a million tourists a year come to Canberra. Does he not know? Does he not know that the number of people that drive down Northbourne Avenue in their cars coming into this place as tourists every year approaches 300,000? Does he not know that those people, when they drive into town, want to have a reference point where they can go and find what they can do to get the best out of their visit to this town? To suggest that we are building an information centre and there are no tourists to use it, either - - -

Mr Corbell: I did not say that, Minister, as you know very well.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, Mr Corbell said that he had been approached by people who wanted to know why we were spending money on an information centre when there were no visitors to use it. Those were his words. I wrote them down at the time. Either he supports the contention that there are no tourists to use it or he should support the Government in saying that it is being built for a useful and constructive purpose. He cannot have his cake and eat it too. If he did not think that it was going to serve a useful purpose, why did he not say something in connection with the budget about why we should not be spending the money? I wonder whether anybody has heard Mr Corbell say in this place, "We should not be spending the money on the information centre". He has never said such a thing, Mr Speaker. He wants his cake and he wants to eat it too. He wants to see us build an information centre; but he wants to be able to whinge and complain at the same time, when there is no substance to his whingeing and complaining.

Mr Speaker, I have to come to the conclusion that Mr Corbell has his own uninformed views about priorities. He does not quite know what they are, but he knows that they are not the same as mine. That is the point. His views are superior, he purports, to mine. (Extension of time granted) Mr Speaker, there is a difference between Mr Corbell and me. I have to fund my priorities and I have to account to this place for the funding that I put into them. Mr Corbell does not. So, he can have all the views about priorities

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