Page 1235 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will re-read their submission, which I have actually read, and I am very happy to have a conversation with them about that. As far as I am aware—and I will go and check with my office again—they have not sought to meet with me and I have taken their submission to the inquiry as something that the Legislative Assembly committee, which Mr Coe chairs and Mrs Dunne sits on, will consider and will make recommendations to the Assembly on in the normal course of how a parliamentary committee inquiry works.
Sport—COVID-19
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Sport and Recreation. Minister, despite the ACT business helpline advising that climbing gyms could open as long as they followed recommendations from Sport Climbing Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport, why now have local businesses like Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing in my electorate been told they can no longer open?
MADAM SPEAKER: The question was directed to Ms Berry, but will you take that, Ms Stephen-Smith?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take the question as Minister for Health, because I understand that there has been some correspondence between the rock-climbing centres and the office of the Chief Health Officer. Certainly, there has been some correspondence to my office in relation to that. My understanding is that there has been a conversation about whether the hand holds in the rock walls count as equipment. The view of the proprietors of the centres is that it would not be possible to clean those between each climb. Those conversations are probably ongoing, but I can come back to Mr Milligan with some further information in relation to that.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, how do you expect sport and recreation businesses to continue to operate, considering you keep changing your mind?
MADAM SPEAKER: Ms Berry, will you respond to this question?
MS BERRY: I will in respect of sport in the ACT and our response to COVID-19 more generally as a sports community. Different sports will need to be treated differently on health advice, as has been the case with the rock-climbing gym.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Coe, I have asked you not to interject. Please don’t.
MS BERRY: All the way along, there have been different sports that will need to be treated differently because of the nature of their business, and that is the fact of the matter. We are all working really hard to get through this COVID-19 health pandemic. Everybody is doing really well. We just need to be patient for a little bit longer, for our sports communities to be able to get back safely, so that we can all enjoy life and times without COVID-19 interfering every step of the way, which it will do if we are not careful and considerate about the way we respond moving forward.
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