Page 24 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 May 1989
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MS FOLLETT: I thank Mr Kaine for his question. I will be making a statement later on this afternoon about the Premiers Conference and the arrangements for that trust account. So if it is acceptable, Mr Speaker, I might take the question on notice on the basis that I will probably be answering it this afternoon anyway.
BRUCE STADIUM
MR STEFANIAK: Mr Speaker, I have a question for the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education, wearing his hat as the Minister responsible for sport. It relates to a number of letters I have received about the proposed move of the Raiders to Bruce Stadium. How much will the proposed move of the Canberra Raiders to the Bruce Stadium cost; who will actually pay for the move; and is it proposed to destroy the running track? Further, has the Government considered using the artificial turf rather than ripping up the running track?
MR WHALAN: Mr Speaker, the cost of the move of the Canberra Raiders to the Bruce Stadium presumably will be borne by the Canberra Raiders themselves. Maybe the questioner was asking about the modifications that will be required to the Bruce Stadium, and, if he was asking that, he might like to clarify the question. I expect that the cost of the move to Bruce Stadium by the Raiders will be known only to the Raiders themselves and that they will bear the cost themselves.
MR STEFANIAK: I ask a supplementary question. As a result of what the Minister says, what is the cost then to the ACT community - and that includes any modifications necessary to the Bruce Stadium, or any other costs that are likely to be incurred in the move?
MR WHALAN: That is a separate issue, and I am quite happy to answer the question in so far as it is possible at the moment. There was a commitment by the previous administration responsible for the ACT - and that was a commitment on the part of the Commonwealth Government - to support a change in location of the Canberra Raiders from Queanbeyan Seiffert Oval to Bruce Stadium. There was negotiated with the Commonwealth - and that matter has not yet been finalised - an arrangement to transfer the management under a lease arrangement from the Commonwealth to the ACT Territorial Government. As part of those arrangements there would be modifications made to the Bruce Stadium itself, and further upgrading of the existing training track that is now known as the warm-up track.
The details of those arrangements are currently the subject of architectural drawings and there has been no final costing. I am not in a position yet to cost those, but I will be quite happy, when those costings are finalised, to make a full statement to the Assembly. It is important to
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