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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 2 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 448 ..

MR QUINLAN

retention of the proceeds of gambling to public benefit over private benefit wherever possible. As for pokies in the casino, I think that question should be evaluated on its merits, separately from pubs and taverns.

In relation to sport and recreation, my preference is that the Government focus more on mass participation. Yes, we do need our role models in our elite teams, but let us not get carried away on the few big occasions that they offer. Just remember the juniors. Let us remember the $600,000 that went to junior soccer, ostensibly. Most of it is reported to have gone through junior soccer back to the Cosmos. The kids missed out; Cosmos got it, effectively. An imbalance, I believe.

There is an indistinguishable line between sport and recreation, and I believe that we should remember, in the allocation of money, that those activities that directly enrich the lives of people in the community should receive due recognition even though they are not high profile. I believe that this Government should go in to bat against a GST on sport and recreation, particularly on junior and mass participation sports.

In business and economic development, I am concerned to get a bit more information - and I hope that the Government will work on it - on economic flowthrough. We hear of big events in the ACT. We hear of so many visitors, so many bed nights, so much spent in the town. Yes, it is good for business, and maybe it is good for the community, but can we find out what it really means? (Quorum formed)

In conclusion, we have a Westminster or Washminster system. The Government lives it and breathes it. The Government minimises the information flows, the real information. There is a spin put on nearly everything and we play press release politics, particularly the Government. The "can do" that we had has become "we can do as we bleeding-well please" in so many projects. The Government are yet to put together a budget without reducing the net worth of the Territory, but are running out of superlatives in their own self-congratulations. This Assembly drew the line at flogging off our major asset and with it the loss of a large slice of control over essential services, the environment and public health. After that had been done, then and only then, did the Government come into this place and say we must share the responsibility.

There are things that we need to do. I recommend that we evaluate the superannuation liability honestly and adopt a sensible plan to meet that liability while retaining our income-earning assets. We should examine our depreciation policies and reset sunk costs, if not already done, and remeasure our operating result to ensure that it reflects our future demands for cash. We measure our operating budgets against those demands. Further, I recommend that the Government get on with its job.

I will finish by observing that I would have expected in this discussion that the Government would have come forward with a lot more planned initiatives than it has. It has the resources. It has the millions of dollars of support that I have mentioned, plus departments. I think the stack of purchaser-provider agreements that I have in my office is about that high. I do not know how many man hours, person hours, go into the

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