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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2859 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

cooperation in joint ventures and joint partnerships. That is exactly what Mr Kaine said when he made the promise to the industry at the tourism awards launch. He stood up and said, "Yes, I think we need dollar-for-dollar participation in this process". So here we have the Government saying the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation is the best organisation to do joint partnerships with the industry, and here we have the Minister also saying to the industry at the tourism awards launch, "This is how we are going to do it and we are going to give you this amount of money to do it". Well, none of it happened. They did not end up giving the half a million dollars to the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation, the organisation that should have been the body in the ACT Government best able to go out and enter into joint ventures and joint partnerships. That, after all, according to the Minister, is why it was established.

This is an important motion. It is an important motion because, if it is passed, it indicates to the Government that we believe their management on this issue has been less than straightforward. I would suggest it has been deliberately misleading to the industry concerned - say one thing but do another; get the industry happy but then not follow through. That is what this Minister did, and that is what the Chief Minister did in denying her Minister the opportunity to use these funds in the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation. (Extension of time granted) I thank the Assembly.

Promotion of Canberra is important. Dollars for the promotion of Canberra are scarce. But when we have them, when the Government commits them in the budget, let us give them to the organisation that is best able to promote our city. That is not the Department of Business; that is not even CanTrade, as the Minister suggested. It is the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation. They have the expertise; they have the links with industry to enter into joint ventures and partnerships. That is what they were set up for. Out of the Minister's own mouth, that is the reason they are there. For that reason, this Government should be honest with the industry and they should be honest with other members of this Assembly and say that the promotion of Canberra is best done by the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation. They should stand up to their promise and give that half a million dollars to the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation so that they can get on with promoting Canberra. In doing that they can assist in providing jobs in our economy, jobs for young people who work in the tourism industry. I commend the motion to the Assembly.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Minister for Business and Employment) (4.57): Madam Deputy Speaker, this motion reveals a number of things. It could be an obsession with bureaucracy; it could be a lack of capacity to read. Mr Corbell, I just had delivered to your table a copy of Budget Paper No. 4.

Mr Corbell: And I am sending it right back, Chief Minister.

MRS CARNELL: What I would like you to do, first and foremost, is open it up at page 657. No, he does not want to open it. These are the budget papers - those things that we put out every year and are passed in this place.

Mr Corbell: Why is not the Minister speaking on this motion? Are you the Minister for Tourism, Chief Minister?

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