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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 3278 ..

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (3.53): I will move the amendment circulated in my name immediately to allow people to talk to both. I move:

Mr Speaker, it is amazing to see the changes in the ranks of the opposition and their attitudes since finding themselves in opposition, particularly but not exclusively Mr Stefaniak. Without reflecting upon previous votes of this Assembly, Mr Speaker, I think that we have seen a sea change in some of them, including Mr Stefaniak and Mr Cornwell, in what they might do for people in opposition that they did not seem to want to do for people in government.

Mr Stefaniak, in some of his public utterances, is skirting as close as he dares to saying that the Liberal Party would have built a motor sport facility if it had been returned to government in 2001, whereas I do not think that any of the Liberal Party's platform went anywhere near such a commitment. This is all born again stuff, born out of what I would think is a lack of responsibility to do anything other than to chase cheap bucks, effectively. I find that, frankly, a little irresponsible, but I guess that is parish pump politics.

Mr Stefaniak did touch on the V8 car race and was sad that we have lost it. Let me say that that is probably more reflective of what the previous government might have brought to us than a structure that might be used by local sports people for their own benefit and possibly the benefit of the territory.

Mr Stefaniak referred to the money that he put up for a study particularly focused on block 52. I have to say that right from the word go I considered that to be hush money. That was money paid to protract the process beyond a 2001 election. That was a taxpayer-funded, issue-avoidance scheme. The taxpayers of this territory paid the best part of $60,000 for the Liberal Party to avoid making any statement of policy in relation to a dragway in particular and probably motor sport in general. I do not think that it confers any credit on the Liberals to keep repeating that they ran this study, which was therefore some sort of indication that they were behind motor sports. On the contrary: as I said, that was a taxpayer-funded, issue-avoidance scheme.

Let me refer to the study itself. I have to say that the study that was produced was referred to Treasury for analysis and, not to put too fine a point on it, the Treasury does have some serious misgivings about the claims, the economic multipliers and the economic effects that are incorporated into that report. I suggest to members, if they have got the time to do it, that they get themselves a copy of the report, skim through it and see what they think, because you do get as you read it an impression that it might just be a rose-coloured glasses view of the impact of a dragway on the ACT, particularly a dragway that at that point in time the proponents were stating would cost, I think, about $6 million.

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