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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (5 May) . . Page.. 1330 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

(h) the selection and appointment of Deutsche Bank as broker between the Territory and private sector financiers for the private sector component of the financing of the redevelopment;

(i) the set of financial statements specific to Bruce Property Trust referred to in footnote 1.20 (page 188, vol. 2) of the 1997-98 Annual Report of the Chief Minister's Department; and

(j) contracts and arrangements for the management and operation of the Bruce Stadium including, but not limited to, cleaning, catering and the sale of corporate boxes and suites, merchandising, advertising and naming rights;

(2) details, in relation to the redevelopment of Bruce Stadium, of:

(a) the timing, amount, purpose and recipient(s) of all payments made by the Territory or on behalf of the Territory;

(b) the legislative authority for any payments and guarantees made by the Territory;

(c) any Territory appropriation made to date and any items outstanding required to be covered by appropriation; and

(3) details of any borrowings made by the Territory or on behalf of the Territory under sections 40 and 42 of the Financial Management Act 1996 and any delegations of authority made by the Treasurer pursuant to section 40 of that Act.

Mr Speaker, the Bruce Stadium redevelopment has from the outset been clouded in uncertainty. It has been a saga of over-the-top promotion quickly succeeded by doubt. Questions have continually been raised about the planning of the project, about tendering for the project, about the projected usage rates of the stadium, about the marketing of the stadium and about the letting and operation of concessions there. Promotion of the stadium has struggled. Naming rights and corporate boxes have not been sold, and a major concert has recently been cancelled. Seating for the Olympic Games soccer matches has been reduced from 40,000 to 25,000, even though we have been told that the break-even point for these matches is about 24,000.

These are serious issues, but overriding these issues in the public mind has been the question of how much it is going to cost and where the money will come from. The answers have been slow in coming, and those we have been given have not been clear.

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