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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3711 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

or $80,000 per annum per couple.

Two low income self-funded retirees. The brochure also states that a telephone allowance and discounted rail travel may be received. No other concessions are advised on that card.

As previously advised to you in question on notice No 880-take note, 880 so far in this Assembly-electricity rebates are only administered by ActewAGL on behalf of the government as part of the government's concession program. They run up to a maximum of a shade over $150 per annum. Gas rebates are independently provided by AGL. They are relatively tokenistic at $14 per annum. But the core rebate is, effectively, an energy rebate. Everybody gets electricity and lots of people are on electricity and gas. The Chief Minister's Department is currently coordinating a review of the ACT government concession regime. All concession issues will be addressed as part of that review.

There is apparently, from the experience of others, quite often confusion between a Commonwealth seniors health card and a health care card. Maybe there should be a different nomenclature adopted for one or other of those. It may have been that the Actew person gave the wrong information or it may have been Mr Dyer heard the information wrongly, but I would not be in a position to comment.

Tourism-funding

MR QUINLAN: Mr Speaker, I took on notice a question from Mr Smyth in relation to tourism expenditure. He quoted from the Canberra Times in relation to something that I said. I have here a hard copy of correspondence between my office and the Canberra Times. The Canberra Times said that the ACT government is spending about $14 million, et cetera, and Mr Smyth made some comparisons there. I think I did point out while I was on my feet at that stage that there were 101 ways of measuring the numbers.

In fact, the Canberra Times had asked my office by email about destination marketing. They had been advised that we were spending in the vicinity of $51/2 million on destination marketing and that was the highest that had been spent on destination marketing. I have been misquoted. As is said in the trade, it happens every now and then, and it did happen. My office did, in fact, advise them by email of that number. However, the article that came up somehow slipped over to $14 million.

I can assure the house that the Australian Capital Tourism of today is focusing on destination marketing and we think that it is putting its resources in the right place, rather than on some events. While research was being gathered for this answer, I just happened to notice that the V8 car race cost us over $20 million-$20 million-plus.

Indigenous child protection workers

MS GALLAGHER In question time earlier in the week, Ms Dundas asked me a question relating to indigenous child protection and indigenous child protection workers. I took two parts of the question on notice. In relation to the number of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect in indigenous families and how many of those reports

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