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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2165 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

We have had a suggestion that we should pursue sponsorship instead. Mr Corbell recommended to us the model that they use at Western Plains Zoo. The first point I make about Western Plains Zoo is that if you want to go to Western Plains Zoo you will pay, as an adult, $14.50 to go through the gate and $7.50 for each child over four. A family of four people can get through with a concessional rate of $36, plus $6 for each extra child if you have more than four people in your family. The fees at Tidbinbilla look almost laughably low by comparison.

I have to say that I am not entirely of the view that sponsorship is a particularly good answer either. They have at Western Plains Zoo a new attraction called the McDonald's hippo beach. Sponsored by McDonald's, it is a new beach for hippopotamuses. I have no doubt at all that, if we introduced the McDonald's rock wallaby circus or something at Tidbinbilla, Mr Corbell would be very quick to complain about the commercialisation of that important facility.

Mr Corbell: It has to be appropriate to the context.

MR HUMPHRIES: It has to be appropriate, we hear now from Mr Corbell. I want to finish by making a couple of points about what this will mean for Tidbinbilla. It would be very easy for the Government to do what other governments in the rest of Australia have done and say, "We are going to introduce fees at Tidbinbilla, we are going to put the money back into Consolidated Revenue, and we will see what we can do about upgrading Tidbinbilla further down the track". We have not done that. We have committed ourselves to putting every cent of that money raised - something like $1m over the next three years or so - back into Tidbinbilla to upgrade it, to improve it, to make it a better facility for the people of Canberra, and to make it a better facility for visitors to this city so that we attract visitors to this city and get visitors to this city to stay longer to see it. That is a worthwhile investment to make. We cannot make that investment without the fee. The money just is not there.

I ask members to reconsider their position on this. I particularly ask the Greens to reconsider their position. Without that investment in Tidbinbilla, we lose something very precious. We lose the chance to improve Tidbinbilla as a nature conservation area and as an area for recreation for families in Canberra. It might be fine that we can get in there for free, but the facility will not be as good as it could be. That is why this Government has put forward this idea. We have been up front about it. We have put it on the table. We have employed the same principles that the Labor Party worked up when it was in government in this place. I would ask members not to tolerate the hypocrisy we have seen opposite and not to block fees simply because those opposite think there is a vote in it at this late stage.

MR WOOD (11.14): As I rise to my feet, I am very happy to stand on my record. That record is one of continuing opposition to the imposition of fees. That record states that I as Minister, and the former Labor Government, did not impose fees for entrance to our nature parks. Mr Humphries has referred to reports and legislation. The legislation says "may impose". It does not say "will impose". He seems to want to pass the blame for this measure from himself to others. It is a fairly frequent characteristic of the Minister. It is a tactic he often uses.

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