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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (29 February) . . Page.. 320 ..

MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):

history of this issue has been well canvassed in this place and I do not need to go over old ground at this time. I will say, however, that I am eagerly awaiting the release of the Auditor-General's performance audit.

Mr Berry: It's a lost opportunity, Dave. Go for it.

MR RUGENDYKE: A lost opportunity? I do not think so. Mr Speaker, I will be scrutinising closely the details of his analysis. From what I have seen of the contracts between the Government and the three football clubs, it seems that the ACT has shouldered excessive risk. As I say, I will be taking all evidence into account when I consider that. Mr Speaker, I support the Stadiums Corporation Bill, along with Mr Quinlan's amendments.

MS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (10.44), in reply: Mr Speaker, I thank members for their support for this Bill. As members would be aware, this sets the Bruce Stadium up as a statutory authority with all of the mandatory reporting requirements that run underneath a statutory authority. The reason why it has been set up as a statutory authority rather than a territory owned corporation is that, unlike the standardised TOC reports, the reporting requirements of a statutory authority can be customised to the requirements of the Assembly. The Stadiums Corporation will be relatively small and it is not therefore appropriate to burden it with the associated costs of a TOC structure. As a statutory authority, there will be greater control exerted over the operations of the responsible Minister.

Mr Speaker, in order to facilitate the effective transfer of business activities, the Government intends to appoint the existing directors of Bruce Stadium Operations Pty Ltd to the board of the Stadiums Corporation, or the Stadiums Authority, as it will more than likely end up being.

Mr Quinlan: Why?

MS CARNELL: Because we are going to support your amendments. The Bill imposes no additional regulatory or financial burden on the ACT Government or Bruce Stadium. The Stadium Corporation will ensure that the Canberra community will continue to enjoy a pre-eminent sporting and functions facility. It will also provide a mechanism through which the ACT community will be able to be kept informed of Bruce Stadium's performance.

Mr Speaker, I can guarantee to members opposite and to Ms Tucker that there was no ambition to have the Bruce Stadium Corporation or authority managing any other facility. I think they will have more than enough to do with Bruce Stadium. It always interests me when I hear of views that there must be a conspiracy somewhere, lurking under the bed maybe. I can absolutely guarantee that that simply is not the case. In fact, I find it really quite amusing, Mr Speaker.

The Government will be supporting Mr Quinlan's amendments, but I have to say that some of Ms Tucker's amendments are pretty stupid, so we will not be supporting those, particularly the ones that want to make the chief executive a public servant, and everybody who works for the stadium public servants, and those sorts of things. That is

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