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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 3841 ..

All they want to do is to tear down Canberra. All they want to do is to stand in the way of everything that this Government does to build up community strength. Why? It is because they will say and do anything to stand in the way of this Government achieving its outcomes in looking after the people of Canberra. This is building up an opportunity for all of us to be there for that great event when 1999 becomes 2000. Lots of people are saying that they are coming. The estimates are somewhere between 60,000 and 130,000 people. I hope that they all turn up because it will be a wonderful opportunity for us all to celebrate the great place we live in. Even members of the Labor Party are invited and I hope they will come.

V8 Supercar Race

MR OSBORNE: My question is to the Treasurer, but the Chief Minister may want to answer it. I am not sure who is handling this matter. Mr Humphries, I noticed on the front page of this morning's Canberra Times an interesting article entitled "Senate green light for V8s". My attention was drawn to the following paragraph midway through the article:

Canberra Tourism says it will cost $13m in the first year, $7m direct from the Government and $6m expected from sponsorships, ticket sales, and other revenue-raising.

My recollection is that that is the first time that this figure has been mentioned, but I may be corrected. I do not know whether it was mentioned in the debate; perhaps the Minister will clarify that. Nevertheless, does that mean that the race is to be underwritten to the value of $13m by the ACT taxpayer? What will happen if the expected $6m in sponsorship is not forthcoming?

MS CARNELL: No, it is not the first time that those figures have been spoken about. They have been spoken about quite regularly. As we know, a large amount of the $7m will be one-off. The ongoing yearly cost of the V8s is $2.5m. With regard to the underwriting as such, no, we have done an in-depth business plan which has been distributed to the members of the Assembly who asked for it, and others as well. If absolutely nobody turned up, certainly it would mean that it was not a big success and there could be extra economic downsides for the ACT Government. But the fact is that something like 13 tickets were sold on the first afternoon that the tickets went on sale. It certainly looks like it is going to be a great event, Mr Speaker.

Mr Berry: Is it being underwritten or is it not?

MR OSBORNE: I think it is, from that answer. How much is guaranteed to be paid to the promoter of this event, Chief Minister?

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