Page 2543 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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in this space. We have had a number of motions voted for to make some changes. We have had commitments from the government over a decade, and by and large they have sat on their hands and done nothing.
I know that Ms Le Couteur was gasping and making that face that she makes but I must agree in part with what my colleague Miss C Burch said. When I say that the government has sat on their hands and done nothing, it is a government that has included Mr Gentleman and Mr Rattenbury in cabinet. And they have done nothing. Ultimately, Mr Rattenbury, in his cabinet role, has much more opportunity to tap Mr Gentleman on the shoulder and say, “Hey buddy what’s going on in this night-time entertainment space?”
When I unveiled this motion to the assembly, magically Mr Gentleman wakes from his slumber and does something; does something in terms of that announcement this morning. After a decade of sitting on their hands, after 10 years of it being just a little too hard, in less than 48 hours Mr Gentleman has finally done a little of what should have been done a decade ago. It is a win and it is heading in the right direction but it is only a minor win. I support the changes announced by Mr Gentleman but they fall a mile short of what is required.
If we were, for argument’s sake, expecting Mr Gentleman to kit out the whole band, what he has done this morning is the equivalent of supplying a couple of guitar picks. And that is good. That is good but there is a way to go. Much more is required.
I cannot get away from the fact that, and I mentioned it earlier, my colleague Mr Rattenbury stood in Garema Place with the musos a few weeks ago and out here at the front of this place. My message to Mr Rattenbury would be: you are the government. You have been a minister of this government for quite a number of years. My message to Mr Rattenbury would be: any failure of the government is a failure of yours, and he has had abundantly more opportunity than I have to get the ear of the planning minister to get these things done. I think stakeholders in this space have every right to be extremely disappointed that he has failed to achieve the outcomes that they would have liked.
I am going to agree with something that Mr Ramsay said earlier, which does not often happen in this place. He mentioned some of the work that the clubs are doing in regard to diversification into live music. I know Mr Rattenbury on ABC radio this morning basically called on the club sector to pull their finger out and use live music as a means to diversify. I point out to Mr Rattenbury that our local clubs do a hell of a lot of the heavy lifting in this space and they account for nearly half of the total live music spend in the ACT. Certainly, if some of the diversification assistance that is coming in that space occurs, which I am sure it will because it is, that figure will increase even more. I am sure that our clubs will continue to lead the way in this area. I look forward to the vote on this one.
Ms Le Couteur’s amendment agreed to.
Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.
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