Page 2985 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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attended the concert. My senior adviser did too. As we know, my senior adviser reviews for CityNews, and he wrote a review for CityNews on this. I want to quote from that review:
This wholly-Australian orchestra features players who are at the top of their game—principals from major orchestras and music schools all over the world, including Australia. One might ponder how many might have studied at the ANU School of Music? Especially pleasing was that Canberra’s own Max McBride was one of the eight double basses, taking the principal’s chair in the second half.
My senior adviser did ponder his question. We have found out that, of the 93 players in the Australia World Orchestra, one, double bassist Max McBride, teaches at the ANU School of Music; another, trombonist Michael Mulcahy, is a former lecturer at the ANU School of Music; and nine other players studied at the ANU School of Music. Almost 12 per cent of the members of the Australian World Orchestra have strong connections to the ANU School of Music. I am pleased to see that the school is coming out of the chaos of 2012, when the school was gutted of its teaching staff and programs, and returning to be an institution which will continue to turn out world-class performance musicians.
For all this government’s inaction, its static approach and its attitude to the arts in Canberra, the arts will move on and will continue to grow. The ACT arts community will continue to create great artistic culture to enrich our city, our country and the world. They will do that in spite of this Labor-Greens government.
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (11.26): I rise today to speak to the ACT government’s commitment to fostering diverse economic growth within the ACT, as evidenced by the 2019-20 budget. The ACT government’s economy is one of the strongest economies in Australia. Over the past three years the ACT has experienced a combined economic growth rate of 12 per cent. Through this time we have also created over 3,000 new businesses and more than 16,000 local jobs.
This budget continues to strengthen our economy through supporting local businesses to grow, creating new jobs for Canberrans through tourism and event promotion, and boosting transport and infrastructure investment throughout the ACT. Local businesses are the backbone of our economy. As I mentioned in my maiden speech, supporting and advocating for the needs of local businesses is the key priority of mine, as a member for Yerrabi. It is imperative that we support our hardworking local business owners to grow and expand, as this contributes to the development and the success of the overall economy.
I am pleased to affirm that in this budget the ACT Labor government puts our local businesses first. Through attracting and supporting investment as well as helping our businesses become export market ready, not only does this budget continue the economic growth of the ACT but we are also securing the future of local businesses to continue to positively contribute to the ACT for years to come.
Furthermore, the ACT is currently experiencing increasing rates of population growth. The population of my home town of Gungahlin alone is set to grow by over 30,000
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