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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 2646 ..
MS CARNELL: Starting with your last question, I certainly hope so. The number of games that are up for grabs, shall we say, are two Ansett Cup games and two home and away games. The two home and away games would both be games between the Kangaroos and other teams. One of the Ansett Cup games would be a Kangaroos game and the other one would probably be a Swans game of some description.
Mr Quinlan: The Bombers.
MS CARNELL: Well, that is what we are hoping for-a Swans/Bombers game, which would be great.
The negotiations are continuing-that is the best I can say at the moment. It is certainly true that the requests that the Kangaroos have on the table are significantly higher than any guarantee ever offered to any other football team per game at this stage and we do not believe that that is appropriate. So we are in negotiations. There is a problem in that the Tasmanian government has put a million dollars on the table for three years, basically for six games, and that is a lot of money. We certainly do not plan to offer that sort of money and so we are trying to negotiate a better outcome for the ACT. But I think it would probably be better if we did not put on the table right now what our current position is.
I think it would be great for Canberra, I think it would be wonderful for Australian rules in Canberra and I think that the Kangaroos would get a huge amount out of it. The opportunities to tap into junior football in the ACT, to increase their club membership and their club following-something that they desperately need to do-would be a benefit to them. The benefit to the ACT of having an elite AFL team having at least some of its games here in Canberra I believe would greatly contribute to lifting the profile of the sport in the ACT.
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. I have got my tickets to the opening match of the Olympic football at Bruce Stadium. I am looking forward to going, and I expect to go. Surely if the Melbourne Cricket Ground can be returfed successfully so can Bruce Stadium, which has had so much more practice at it. But a fair question arises. It is obvious people would like reassurance about the certainty of getting a refund if matches are transferred. This is especially important from the government's point of view, from everybody's point of view, if any more tickets are to be sold, after all that advertising, in the next fortnight.
I have read the fine print about refunds but there are too many ifs, buts and maybes for me to work out. I note that Mr Coates of the AOC is reported as saying that ticket refunds are going to be a legal issue between the AOC and the ACT government. Chief Minister, to reassure me and other ticket holders and to maintain Bruce ticket sales, I ask: if matches are transferred from the ACT, first, will there be refunds and, secondly, whose responsibility will that be?
MS CARNELL
: Obviously if people buy tickets for Canberra and there are no Canberra games then refunds will occur. That is simple. But the fact is there will be Canberra games. Mr Wood made the point at the beginning of his question that the MCG will be
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