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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 314 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

been very good, but we expect it to be a season or two before the new product is fully understood and appreciated by corporate clients in Canberra. Six people have bought suites on an annual basis already.

The second part of Mr Quinlan's question yesterday and his preamble today were about marketing. The marketing of Bruce Stadium corporate products is a joint effort between the stadium operations and the three major hirers. The stadium's marketing budget is part of the operating budget of the stadium. It is not part of the redevelopment budget.

The stadium's sales team operates on a commission basis - that is, no sale, no commission. It is quite simple. I think I made the point yesterday that it is based on performance - no sale, no commission. I do not know what rate the Brumbies and the Cosmos marketing teams are paid, nor should I.

With regard to the sale or, alternatively, extension of the lease for Bruce Stadium, our current lease expires in 2009, and we have a peppercorn rent. The ACT's offer to the ASC is to transfer under a deferred payment plan which will be funded from the operations of the stadium.

Federal government Ministers were in the process of signing off that proposal when the election was called. We now have a new Sports Minister, who has agreed to the transfer. At this stage the Minister for Finance has not agreed. I have had discussions with Mr Fahey on this issue.

From an ACT perspective, it really does not matter whether we extend the current lease at peppercorn rent or go down the path of sale. Mr Fahey and I are having discussions on which way we go. Again, from an ACT perspective, an extended lease would do the job or, alternatively, a sale would be good as well. Mr Fahey and I are having discussions, and those discussions are going very well.

MR QUINLAN: I ask a supplementary question. Chief Minister, I would be interested to discover whether any of the other areas in the Bruce AIS precinct have entered into negotiations and, while I am on my feet, as you are well advanced in your discussions with Mr Fahey, I ask whether he has put a value on it this week.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, as I said, the discussions I have had with Mr Fahey in the last couple of weeks have been on the basis that if the transfer of ownership cannot be agreed to in the short term then we are discussing the extension of the lease at a peppercorn rent by the 2009 date. That would give a sufficient period over which to amortise the financial structure of Bruce Stadium. Those discussions are going well. What more can I say?

Again, it does not matter whether we have an extended lease at a peppercorn rent, which Mr Fahey is very positive about, or we get the transfer of Bruce Stadium. From our perspective, the issue is to ensure that we have control of the stadium in the medium to long term.

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