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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (30 June) . . Page.. 1847 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

Members may not be aware that the redevelopment has also generated a 50 per cent increase in direct employment at the stadium on game days. Prior to the upgrade there were approximately 200 jobs on game days. Today there are approximately 300. Most of these new jobs, Mr Speaker, are associated with the expanded catering operations at the stadium and have been filled by young Canberrans, thereby directly helping to alleviate youth unemployment in this city and the region.

The redevelopment of the stadium offers a wide range of opportunities to host non-sporting events such as concerts, conferences, business breakfasts, lunches, dinners and other function-based activities. The list goes on and on. As these opportunities are taken up, the stadium facilities will be used on a more frequent basis, generating a greater number of full-time positions, jobs, and significantly increased frequency of the periods in which casual staff are employed.

Mr Speaker, we also know that in December 1996, thanks to the efforts of this Government, and despite criticism from Labor, Canberra won the right to host Olympic Games football. Bruce Stadium will be the competition venue for five games of men's and six games of women's soccer, including a women's semifinal, from 13 September through to 21 September next year. Soccer, Mr Speaker, is the world's most popular sport. The 1998 World Cup was televised to an audience numbered in the billions around the globe. An audience of similar size is expected to watch the 2000 Olympic Games football tournament. That fact, by itself, offers Canberra unparalleled opportunities to profile our city and our region in an international arena. During these games, quite apart from the football teams and their support staff, a significant contingent of media and members of the Olympic family will visit Canberra for an extended period. Together with a substantial number of visiting spectators, this will provide a significant boost to the accommodation, hospitality and retailing sectors of this city.

Mr Speaker, another issue I want to turn to is retaining our national sporting themes in Canberra. It is a well-known fact that without the redevelopment of Bruce Stadium both the Canberra Raiders rugby league team and the ACT Brumbies rugby union side would not be here today. Do not take my word for it, Mr Speaker; just ask the management of the two teams. There may be some people who could not give a hoot whether we retained two of the world's best and probably best-known club sides here in Canberra, Mr Speaker. Well, I do give a hoot, and so do thousands of ordinary people in this city and within the region. Can you imagine the kind of stink that people like our colleague Mr Quinlan would have raised, Mr Speaker, if we had lost the Raiders because our main stadium was not up to scratch? If this Government had not pressed ahead it is more than likely that the Melbourne Storm we see today would probably have been the Melbourne Raiders, and the Brumbies would probably have been a second Super 12 side based in either New South Wales or Queensland, or perhaps Perth.

Only recently, Mr Speaker, the National Rugby League found that the new Bruce Stadium was only one of five existing venues that fully complied with the criteria for the NRL competition from the year 2000. The reality is that if the redevelopment had not gone ahead, Bruce Stadium would have been rejected as a home ground for the Raiders. Do not take my word for it, sir. Mr Kevin Neil, the Raiders' chief executive, issued a media statement on 30 April this year in which he said this:

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