Page 2470 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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We have made a number of other savings in terms of finance, human resources and payroll, through shared services. There has been a huge amount of administrative savings within tourism. I would like to make more. I think an outrageous situation is the amount of rent that they are paying at the airport—a 10-year deal that was signed by the previous government. I would, in an instant, get them out of there and into a CBD location; but, unfortunately, someone locked us into a 10-year lease at half a million dollars a year rent.
Ms MacDonald: Who would that be?
MR BARR: I cannot imagine who that would be! If I wanted to identify high priority expenditure within tourism, the very first thing that I would do in looking at tourism—and that I did in looking at the tourism budget—would be to say, “Well, what’s the low value expenditure? Where are we wasting money? Where can we redirect money?”
In a media release Mr Smyth put out not long after I became minister, he talked about the hokey-pokey of tourism funding—that you take money out and you put money in. Interesting—very amusing; pretty funny. He is a witty man, Mr Smyth. But what he fails to recognise is the importance of priorities in expenditure. To be lectured by the shadow Treasurer about the importance of getting your priorities right, reducing back-end administration and putting money into front-end services, and then having the shadow minister for tourism suggest, when we do that, that this is somehow the end of the tourism industry as we know it—it is classic Brendan Smyth.
It is one side of the Liberal Party making a particular statement and running a particular economic line when the other side—Mr Mulcahy is attempting to be a responsible economic commentator; Mr Smyth, on the other hand, is prepared to go round misquoting Access Economics reports. Yes, I have read the report, Mr Smyth. I note that you refer to $107 million worth of indirect taxes that are achieved through the tourism industry. It is interesting that in the year that the report refers to, 2002-03, the total amount of revenue that the ACT government received from taxes, fees and fines was $658 million. Mr Smyth suggests that, out of that $658 million, $109 million came from the tourism industry in revenue that was collected there—
Mr Smyth: Read the report.
MR BARR: Indirect taxes to all levels of government, Mr Smyth, not back to the ACT government. For Mr Smyth to say that, for every $1 the ACT government invests in tourism, we get back five times that in revenue to the ACT government is not correct.
Mr Mulcahy: What is the figure?
MR BARR: It is not correct.
Mr Mulcahy: What is the figure?
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