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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 3279 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

We are not talking about an international standard dragway; we are probably talking about what is termed, I think, a provincial dragway. The whole promise for that dragway was huge. I know that the New South Wales government funded a dragway at Eastern Creek and I think that in the order of $30 million will be going into that dragway. That sort of money is being spent in Brisbane, as I understand. I forget the name of the park where there is a dragway in Brisbane. But to put in an international standard dragway or a dragway that would pull the crowds from hither and thither probably would cost a huge amount of money.

Mr Stefaniak has now upped the ante, as you can in opposition, beyond the commitment of a dragway to one of a full motor sport facility. I do not think that he went as far as talking about having a V8 car track. I hope not, because that would be big money and that would draw you back into dealing with AVESCO. I ask members to reflect upon how AVESCO and the government of the time interacted in relation to the GMC car race. I do not want to cast any aspersions on anybody, but I happened to be at a cocktail party and said that I had just met the guys from AVESCO. Someone said to me, "Did you shake hands?"Having said that I had, I was asked, "Did you count your fingers?"

I think that that is a reflection of the fact that AVESCO are very hard business people. They do drive a hard bargain. If you want to have V8 car races and have the stars of the V8 car races in your backyard, it is going to cost you a lot of money. It did with the GMC race. I think that officially we got up to about $6 million, but that was not the full cost. There were lots of costs that were absorbed in other budgets but were imposed upon agencies and imposed upon the territory that went beyond that $6 million, but that was the official amount.

I think we ought to try collectively to get this question in perspective. The government does wish to provide a dragway, or the capacity for a dragway facility. The pressure or the ask of the proponents has varied from time to time. It has varied from wanting a chunk of land and $6 million to a chunk of land will do. I might add that some of that negotiation preceded the Eastern Creek development in Sydney, which may have a serious effect upon the drawing capacity of the Canberra dragway. Together, they might stimulate even greater activity; who knows? But you would have to take that into account. You would have to think about whether the dragway is going to take off like a drag car, I suppose; is it really going to take off in the area or not?

I think that my amendment puts the question into perspective. Yes, the government seeks to provide land for a dragway. The government recognises that it is not just the chunk of land that is impacted upon by the existence of a dragway. A dragway in full operation, in full flight, would alienate quite an area for most normal activities, for other pursuits, purely because of the traffic and the noise generated. That just happens to be the collateral problem that goes with dragway racing, but we have to recognise that you just do not find a quarter of a mile of dirt, enough room for pits and a stand, and say, "There you go, that's it."It does have to be placed in a most suitable location.

We are trying to find that. Mr Stanhope has advised publicly that the government is negotiating with the Commonwealth for the acquisition of land that the Commonwealth holds in the Majura Valley. We are seeking to build a correctional facility in the Majura Valley. We are also seeking to find land for a dragway. Another degree of difficulty in

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