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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 2616 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

and Australia. Unfortunately, Canberra missed out on this major international drag-racing event.

Mr Speaker, I am no revhead-I am sure that most people in the Assembly would recognise that- but I do recognise that it is important to provide in a place such as the ACT venues for people to perform and to experience their sports, the things that interest them, in a safe way. We do not have that at the moment.

That brings me to the second part of my motion, which is about recognising the social benefits that drag-racing brings to the ACT community. The provision of a permanent venue for drag-racing would allow people to pursue their legitimate sporting interests in a way which is safe and which does not have detrimental impacts on other members of the community. At the moment there is no legitimate outlet for drag-racing activity. I am sure that my colleague Mr Rugendyke would attest to the need to have outlets for people to pursue motor sport activities safely and keep them off our streets and away from our residential areas, where that sort of activity is unacceptable.

The provision of a permanent drag-racing facility would not only brings with it the significant economic benefit of around $1.5 million a year in visitor revenue, but also make sure that people had an outlet which was safe and which was away from those other members of the community who, understandably, do not like that sort of thing occurring outside their homes.

The ACT government really does need to get serious about finding a permanent location. This matter has dragged on for a long time. I understand that further legal action is being pursued by the dragway at this time. I am not interested in commenting on the legal aspects, but I am interested in getting a solution that meets the needs of drag-racing enthusiasts in the ACT and I am interested in this government getting serious about finding a suitable permanent location, not only for drag-racing but also for some other motor sport activities which are putting pressures on other parts of our community.

The continued growth of Summernats and the need to address the issues of Summernats, in particular the impact of noise on residential areas, have been raised by the organiser of Summernats and the co-location of drag-racing and other motor sport activity at a permanent new venue could be seen as taking the opportunity to come to terms with those issues.

I think it is incumbent upon the ACT government at least to consider the option and explore the option in serious negotiation with the Canberra International Dragway on what form of support it is prepared to provide to enable a permanent venue to be established. I understand that a report on a examination of potential sites was put together around five to six years ago and identified a number of sites, particularly one in the Majura Valley, which may have the potential for a permanent drag-racing facility.

I am no expert on the environmental, social and other aspects of those sites and I would expect those issues to be properly examined, but I do think it is important that the ACT government get serious about negotiating with the Canberra International Dragway to find and reach agreement on a suitable permanent venue for drag-racing in the ACT.

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