Page 2452 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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The other commitment that was given was that sporting groups would have access to school ovals. They were asked to do all this work, they have done that, and at this stage many groups are unclear about how they can access school ovals. The government needs to do its bit. The sporting groups are working very hard. They are dismayed at this government’s record. Under the Stanhope government and under this minister, the cuts to sport and recreation continue. There is a further cut in funding of about $600 million this year.
Mr Barr: $600 million? My heavens!
MR SMYTH: Yes, $0.6 million—$600,000. Mr Barr, we all make mistakes. My apologies, but I am glad I have caused you some mirth because you are bringing no-one any mirth. It is $600,000; I correct the record, as one should when one makes a mistake, unlike the government, which never does so. Previous efforts include cuts to the grants program, cuts to national teams, a 35 per cent cut in staff from the agency, and years of underfunding of ground maintenance. They have even closed the walking track on Mount Taylor. The walking track on Mount Taylor has been there for a long, long time.
Mr Barr: For repair.
MR SMYTH: They closed it because it had not been maintained. There is cost shifting into the community for things like line marking—a very expensive undertaking for some of the small funding bases that our sporting groups have, for something that the government has always done. At the same time, the minister hides behind cabinet-in-confidence, commercial-in-confidence, and will not release things like the mountain bike championship business case. They hide behind cabinet-in-confidence. They repudiate being open and accountable, and they are dumbing down the potential event either because they have no confidence in it or because they want to look good afterwards.
This is the whole point; this is the point that Mr Mulcahy has been making in regard to the Treasury estimates, and we now see it even with events like the mountain bike championship. We are going to spend three times what the New Zealand government spent in Rotorua on their event, but we are going to have fewer visitors, fewer viewers and less air time. So I am not sure why you would draw those conclusions. It is just not credible, or it shows there is an enormous lack of faith in what this government is doing.
It is interesting that one of the recommendations from the standing committee was that criteria for the decisions on how ovals will be picked for closure be made public. Recommendation 55 states:
That the ACT Government provides details of the criteria by which applications for particular sports grounds for exemption from stage 4 water restrictions will be assessed.
The government’s response—which is typical—is “noted”. It refers to “general criteria”. “Have we got water, have we not got water?” That is a general criterion. It stated:
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