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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4158 ..

responsible for that particular portfolio, I found the tourism industry in—what would you say?—disarray. In more than any other area that I have assumed responsibility for, people came to me and said, “You’ve got to fix this; you’ve got to fix that; you’ve got to fix something else,” because there had been no strategic approach whatsoever. There never was in anything you did, and that is why most of it fell over. Even if the plan was any good, you never did anything; you just allowed it to float along.

We now have Australian Capital Tourism, chaired by Derek Bolker. It does work; it is a strong board; it is getting results; the results are in the numbers; it is working strategically; it is focusing on the things that it ought to focus on; and it is working. That, is success, not failure.

In the business sector, we have, as you well know, invested a considerable amount of resources in development; but, again, it has been sensible, strategic; it helps small business; it provides programs, mentoring for small business; it provides start-ups and start-up support for local firms; it works within the sensible structure of the economic white paper. For the first time, we have a structure.

Mrs Burke: You’ve got it going for you, Ted.

MR QUINLAN: No. I will take the interjection and respond. I am sorry; I apologise to you, Mr Speaker, for doing so, but I repeat: absolutely no strategic thinking in the previous Liberal government, absolutely none. The Canberra taxpayer paid millions for your disasters. And, Mr Smyth, I daresay they would again.

Mr Pratt: Be critical if you have to, but don’t exaggerate.

MR QUINLAN: I will repeat them, old son. Do you want to know? CanDeliver was $2 million or $3 million—millions and millions of taxpayers’ dollars wasted.

In sport and recreation—there will be a tirade about that—we have actually got out there and done something. We have got an actively ageing program. It is working; it is growing. We have launched a program, good sports territory; people have embraced it; 33 of the local sporting bodies have signed on to it and are working with us on good sportsmanship. We have put in place incentives to assist women’s sport. We in fact elevated our best sporting team, our best national side, the Capitals, a women’s team, to the same level of support as the previous government was giving male sides. You discriminated against women in your funding of sport. And the list goes on.

I will close as I started. We have entered the end game of this Assembly; there will be the—what would we say?—animated debate that will take place. But I have got to say that that mob over there are very flexible.

MR SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired.

MR PRATT (3.58): Mr Speaker, I rise to condemn the Stanhope Labor government for its failure to add value to our education system; indeed, for presiding over the deterioration of one of the country’s best education systems. I condemn the government for its failure to support our very professional police force and, therefore, to properly protect the ACT community. I condemn the government for its failure to properly protect

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