Page 1793 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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years and sat next to ordinary Canberrans who are absolutely delighted about it. I have sat next to a diplomat who said that it was as good as anything he had seen around the world in his diplomatic career. We can perform at an international standard in this city.
It is about the racing industry and the future of the racing industry—hopefully the minister will get a report shortly about that—and perhaps co-locating all of the different forms of racing at a different location. But let us make sure that when we do it, what we do is build a facility that allows us to capitalise on it and gain market share in some of those markets. Sky TV now has three racing channels. They are looking for product. We should be in a position to capitalise on that and at the same time not just the racing industry, the entire equestrian industry. Canberra probably has more horses per head of population than any city in the country. But we do not work off that.
We used to have the dressage events on the lawns in front of Parliament House and they were beamed around the world, and we do not now. The question is: why do we not have them? What is required to have them so that you get vertical integration from the absolute top of the pile, from racing and equestrian all the way down to kids with ponies in the horse paddocks? But you cannot do that unless you have a commitment to the industry.
The split between tourism and business events, I think, is being talked about more widely now. I do not think we have ever reached our potential or got anywhere along the path to reaching our potential on tourism. It is the same with business events, which has been absolutely hindered over the last 13 years by not having a new convention centre.
But at the same time it is arts and culture. Father John Eddy, who was a Jesuit here in the local community, said that the thing that changed Washington was the establishment of the Kennedy Centre. He said that Americans suddenly were interested in their own culture. Washington in the 1960s was the murder capital of America—400 weapons murders a year in Washington. And it has moved away from that as they have got involved in their arts and culture and as they have highlighted education and have moved on to commerce. Washington peaked at just over 800,000 people at one stage and is now down to just over 600,000. You do not want to go through a boom and bust cycle like that. But it is about capitalising on what is your core brand and making sure that you make it work.
Mr Rattenbury mentioned food. That is an excellent opportunity. We have more restaurants per capita in this city than probably any other city in the country. We have excellent restaurants here. We have an excellent primary produce sector which is growing. Let us make sure they have got the infrastructure to support them, whether it be truffles or whether it be olive oil. There is plenty going on.
We all know the local wine industry. We claim Clonakilla as our own, even though they are just across the border. It is a worldwide brand now. I have hopes that one day there may even be a whiskey distillery in the ACT. Who knows? It is a growth industry. But you have got to work at it and you have got to talk about it.
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