Page 3664 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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MR WALL: Ms Le Couteur might be the luckiest one in here. If we turn also to infrastructure and the need for appropriate infrastructure to host events, we need look no further than the debate that continues over a suitable convention centre as a starting point.
Every major city in Australia has a convention centre, convention facilities or a facility of some sort or another. Some, as can clearly be seen, are better than others. It is safe to say that our convention centre has failed to meet the needs of, particularly, the growing Canberra business community. This is something that is seen on all sides of politics and there is some agreement across party lines.
I note that the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Tourism has this on their agenda, with an inquiry into the new convention centre for Canberra. It is important also to note the terms of reference for the inquiry. They include the level of priority that should be given to a new convention centre in relation to other infrastructure projects in the ACT and the appropriate source of funding for each stage of the project. The outcome of this inquiry will be interesting. It should, amongst other things, ascertain once and for all the level of support that should be offered by this place for such a project.
I finish by flagging an omission in Mr Pettersson’s motion, and that is the government’s plan to entice visitors to stay longer than a day or two. There seems to be an absence of an overarching strategy behind our major events to ensure that visitors are staying here for longer than simply the duration of the event itself.
We have many natural resources at our doorstep and great tourism opportunities but there has been a failure to realise the potential of these, particularly with some creative work on the government’s part to bring these organisations and opportunities together and to promote them as a package: the potential to capture an extra visitor dollar beyond that one day event that gets people here in the first place.
I look forward to seeing what progress is made on the government strategy, but it remains to be seen whether or not the government can in fact turn their glossy brochures into genuine outcomes for the ACT.
Visitor
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: On behalf of the Assembly, I acknowledge that we have here with us in the gallery former member for Molonglo Michael Moore. Welcome, Mr Moore.
Tourism—major events strategy
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.32): I wish to speak briefly on this motion and concentrate on the point in the motion that relates to assisting local artists and increasing the number of local artists who become part of the arts and entertainment in these festivals and events. Much has been said about how events diversify the economy but we fail to recognise that a lot of the money spent on events actually goes
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