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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2872 ..

MR CORBELL (5.36), in reply: Madam Deputy Speaker, this issue is an important one, despite some of the frivolity that has entered into the chamber in the late hours of this day. It is important for one very simple reason, and that is that tourism in Canberra is a major employer, and it is a major employer of young people. It is a major employer of people my age. I want to see people of my age, as well as people who are younger than I am and people who are older than I am, working in the industry. Indeed, even people of the age of Mr Kaine should have an opportunity to continue to work in that industry. They can do that only if the industry is well promoted. The only way it can be well promoted is if the funds that the Government expends on tourism promotion and the promotion of our city generally are coordinated. That is exactly what Mr Kaine said in his comments about the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation. That is the commitment Mr Kaine made when he spoke to the tourism industry at the launch of the ACT tourism awards earlier this year. But it is the commitment he failed to deliver on, and this Government failed to deliver on, when they announced their budget.

Mr Kaine made some comment about me saying at the Estimates Committee, "I understand, I understand". I want to correct the record because, as usual, the Minister is misinterpreting my comments and deliberately taking them out of context. When I said, "I understand, I understand", I meant, "I understand the explanation you have given me"; but that does not mean I agree with it, and I certainly do not. At no stage have I said that I agree with it. I think it is wrong. I think it is the wrong approach.

I think members in this place need to understand very clearly that we cannot direct the Government to put this money somewhere else, but we can say to them, "Stand by what you have said previously". Stand by what you have said to the industry. Stand by what you said in this same place about the creation of the Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation and the coordinated approach to the promotion of Canberra that must be taken. Stand by those commitments and say, "We will give the support we promised to give to the Canberra tourism industry", because the jobs of young people in Canberra and the jobs of older people in Canberra are reliant upon decent promotion of our city. You have an opportunity here to change your mind on this issue. I urge all members in this place to support this motion.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Motion (by Mr Kaine) agreed to:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

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