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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 7 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 2091 ..

MS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer): Mr Speaker, for the information of members and pursuant to sections 31A and 79 of the Public Sector Management Act, I present copies of contracts with Julie McKinnon (an extension) and Allan Schmidt (short-term contract). I ask for leave to make a short statement with regard to these contracts.

Leave granted.

MS CARNELL: I would alert members to the issue of privacy of personal information that may be contained in the contracts. I ask members to deal sensitively with the information and respect the privacy of individual executives.

MS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.23): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present a paper on the National Science Week achievements in 1998 and I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

Mr Speaker, for the interest of members, I table the 1998 Australian Science Festival report to the Department of Industry, Science and Tourism. The report covers the 1998 event and highlights the National Science Week's many achievements. The sixth Australian Science Festival, held from 2 May to 10 May this year, was aimed at enhancing the excitement, challenges and relevance of science and technology to the general public. The festival also hoped to encourage more students to consider careers in science and, more importantly, to present Canberra as the science capital of Australia.

It is estimated that, in 1998, 250,000 people attended Science Festival events. Canberra, as the primary venue for the festival, hosted 180,000 of those attendances. The Science Festival is not only a fun event that both Canberrans and tourists enjoy but also a fantastic promotional opportunity for the ACT. The report estimates that the media coverage of the event is worth at least $270,000.

Mr Speaker, this event is something that all of the organisers should be enormously proud of. They have taken it from a very small event not all that many years ago to a major event, not just in Canberra but in Australia. I would also like to use this opportunity to congratulate the Canberra Times for the quality and the amount of promotion that they gave to the Science Festival. They, together with the organisers, can certainly take a lot of credit for the outcomes.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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