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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 1818 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

Faced with the prospect of reducing the cost and, therefore, the size and scale of Floriade and the risk of losing its position as Australia's premier spring festival in the face of very stiff competition, the board of CTEC recommended to the Government that an entry fee was appropriate and we accepted the board's advice. I for one am sick and tired of hearing Mr Berry and others in this place tell us what we should and should not be funding, without having the decency to suggest how on earth we would pay for it. In fact, I have a great suggestion. How about this year we stick an extra $15 on everyone's rates bill and call it the Berry Floriade levy? We could put all the people who vote for this sort of motion together.

Mr Quinlan: It would not be a tax then, would it? It would be a levy.

MS CARNELL: It would be a levy because it would be the same for everyone. If this Assembly wants every Canberra household to pay twice - and Mr Berry said he did not want people to pay twice - that is an approach that could be taken, but it is not something that we support. Or should I tell the Australian Education Union that they would need to find another $1.3m savings from central office in the Department of Education because Mr Berry opposes an entry charge to Floriade which will predominantly be paid by tourists? In the words of Mr Hird, in his Estimates Committee dissenting report, this is another example of "It is not my problem" from the committee and its chairman, Mr Berry.

Mr Speaker, Floriade is not a charity event as Mr Berry seems to think it is, or seems to want everybody to think it is. It is a business. It is a commercial venture designed to bring tourists and income into this city and to create jobs. We do not do it just because it is pretty or it makes us all feel good about spring. We do it because it is successful and it creates jobs and economic activity that we badly need. But if it is to grow in size and scale, as it needs to do - - -

Mr Berry: You just sprung it on people.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am not willing to yell.

MR SPEAKER: No, and do not yell. Mr Berry, you have already spoken. Stop interjecting; otherwise, I will have to deal with you.

MS CARNELL: If it is to grow in size and scale, as it really does need to, then we just cannot keep tipping more and more taxpayers' money into it every year. Mr Speaker, I want to quote the views of three people who know more about Floriade and flower festivals around the world than all of us put together here in this Assembly. Peter Sutton, who worked for the old Parks and Gardens Unit and later CityScape Services for 44 years, is widely regarded as the father of Floriade. I am sure many of us here know him well and respect him. What did he have to say about an entry fee? He supports it because it will help Floriade realise its full potential as a national and international festival. What does Chris de Bruine, the designer of Floriade from 1988 until 1990, again somebody involved with Floriade right from the beginning, have to say about an entry fee? In a letter to the editor published in the Canberra Times on 27 July 1995, he said:

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