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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3125 ..

MRS CARNELL: Because, Mr Speaker, we are actually in the business of making decisions on this side of the house. There was no such thing as a service to be tendered for. It is that simple. We put to the youth community that we have a youth action plan for health out there in the marketplace; a number of things are occurring as part of that. There are obviously issues that need to be addressed in the youth area, not the least being such things as unemployment, homelessness, drug use - all those sorts of things.

We decided to take an innovative approach here: Not let the Government decide what services should be provided to young people in this city and then put them out to tender; but let us go to the peak body and say, "Okay, how would you innovatively use this site over the next couple of years, when it will not be needed for anything else?". They came back to us with an innovative approach, after speaking to a number of people in the youth area. I think they have come back with something that is really smart and innovative, the sort of approach I would have thought those opposite would have embraced. Mr Speaker, those opposite never can find anything good about anything. This is not a proposal that was put together by the Government; it is a proposal put together by the youth sector, on the basis of a challenge from us to come up with a smart approach. They have done it.

MR WHITECROSS: My question without notice is to the Chief Minister, Mrs Carnell. Chief Minister, in answer to a question at the last sitting, you informed the Assembly that your agreement with SOCOG "provided maximum revenue opportunities from ticket sales for the Territory" and that "SOCOG revenue represents only 60 per cent of ticket sales". However, in the same answer you stated that "SOCOG's ticket revenue targets of $5.286m for the tournament in Canberra have been underwritten" - presumably by the ACT Government. Chief Minister, is it not the case that ticket sales will have to average 24,000 per match, that is, 60 per cent of the 40,000-seat capacity of Bruce Stadium, during the Olympic soccer events in order to meet the cost of your commitment to underwrite SOCOG's revenue, before the ACT starts to make any money from ticket sales? What evaluation has your Government done to establish that the ACT will get average attendances of 24,000 during the preliminary rounds, let alone the 40,000 we need to meet your revenue projections of $3m for the Territory?

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, we have had a really good question time so far. They have knocked the Feel the Power marketing campaign for Canberra. They have knocked the Youth Coalition's proposal to use QEII. Now they are knocking Olympic soccer. All of these things produce jobs in the ACT, produce dollars in Canberra. Mr Speaker, you would have to despair about those opposite. Is Mr Whitecross saying that Canberra should not be an Olympic city? Is he saying - - -

Ms McRae: Answer the question. You cannot answer the question.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

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