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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 10 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 3067 ..

MR QUINLAN: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Does that answer apply as widely as to include any government business enterprises? To your knowledge, is there any prospect of government enterprises or government departments providing further support to the Cosmos?

MS CARNELL: What TOCs might do in terms of sponsorship I really cannot comment on. There are none I know about particularly. They do not come to me first. Certainly I have no knowledge of any pending sponsorships or whatever. The comment I stick with is that the Cosmos has been supported very well by the Government. It is certainly able to draw, and has been drawing, on the national teams policy money which was allocated in the budget. The ACT Government will not be providing further funding to the Cosmos or, for that matter, to the Cannons or to any national team.

MR STEFANIAK: I wish to add to that for Mr Quinlan's benefit. I heard on the radio a few days ago, Mr Quinlan, that apparently the Hellenic Club has also sponsored them to the tune of $50,000.

MR WOOD: My question is to the Minister for the environment. Minister, as we drive around Canberra the brilliant purple of Paterson's curse seems to be flowering everywhere. It is covering the outskirts of Canberra and, to my surprise, also growing alongside roads and ovals and in small suburban parks, places we have never seen it before. I am sure this has been - - -

Mr Kaine: It is very pretty, Bill.

MR WOOD: I am not sure it is. I am sure you have had approaches on this already, Minister. The Government has a weed strategy which acknowledges that the Government has a role in coordinating and providing resources for weed control to the extent that the community as a whole benefits. Minister, first, what strategic actions are being taken under the weed strategy to remove this brazen weed from our city before it has established such a hold that we are completely smothered beneath an un-Australian sea of purple? Secondly, has the Government allocated additional resources to address the particular problem of Paterson's curse? What role, if any, do the Government's weed hit teams play in that process?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Wood for his question, and a very important question it is. Paterson's curse is not just an issue for the ACT. I recently had occasion to drive to Mount Buffalo in Victoria. South of about Gundagai the entire country is just lush and purple. It is curious that South Australians, I am told, call Paterson's curse Salvation Jane. They call it Salvation Jane because in terrible drought conditions it is about the last thing that grows. In opportunities like that cattle will eat it and can subsist, but for us it is a terrible thing.

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