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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2607 ..


MR SMYTH

(continuing):

"Canberra"under it. Will that be changed to "capital", or will it be necessary to find a brand new logo, with all the attendant costs? Given that there is some doubt about the size of the existing CTEC budget into the out years, will we see a drop from approximately $16 to $12 million because of the removal of the V8 car money? Will the costs be substantial-and how will they be accommodated inside the existing CTEC budget?

That being said, the opposition certainly wishes the Australian Capital Tourism Corporation well. May it continue the good job started by CTEC; may it bolster the hospitality industry as an industry which employs lots of young Canberrans; and may it help to display all the facets of Canberra-from the local, the territorian and the national to the environmental. May it help bolster growth of respect for Canberra and help break down some of the bad stereotypes which still exist about Canberra, which we should be overcoming.

I will close by reiterating the point I made on events. Events are essential, whatever the criticism of the previous government of some events that were run. Events are important on the tourism calendar. The readings about the cities that will survive well into this decade, and go further into this century, indicate the need for some events-based activity, to ensure people understand that these are lively cities; that these are cities worth visiting; and that they are not sleepy hollows.

I sound that note of caution-that I hope we do not see, with the loss of the word "events"from that title a loss of events across the board in the ACT in the tourism field, because events are a valid and essential part of the tourism world. The opposition will be supporting the bill.

MS DUNDAS

(5.23): The ACT Democrats will be supporting this bill today. Tourism is a vital element of the ACT economy, and a key area of employment growth for Canberra. This is a simple machinery bill that changes the name of the Canberra Tourism Events Corporation to the Australian Capital Tourism Corporation, and expands the board from seven to nine members, to allow for an expansion of industry representation, which is important. This is an area I have received a number of calls about-where people are saying that we need more and diverse representation on tourism bodies in the ACT.

The recent difficulties in CTEC have resulted from an inappropriate focus on the staging and promotion of single events, such as the ill-fated V8 car race. I believe CTEC has been through a rigorous review, and the bill is an important outcome of that process. Of course, a name change will not fix all the problems in one breath, but it is a good place to start. Hopefully it will encourage a greater focus, in the tourism body of the ACT, on promotion of the ACT as a tourism centre.

Growth in the Canberra tourism market has the potential to increase the diversity of the ACT economy and increase our employment base. Tourism has the potential to provide jobs for many underskilled and unemployed people already in Canberra. Investment in the development of Canberra's tourism potential provides the important benefit to the ACT population not only of increased economic activity but also additional social and community activities that tourism can provide.


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