Page 1073 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 May 2006
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In 2006-07, tourism marketing will receive a total of $27.6 million and the tourism budget will reach $38.3 million.
Tourism supports a wide range of small business. It accounts for 7,500 jobs directly and thousands more indirectly.”
Mr Stirling also commented that the significant investment in tourism will, and I quote, “help drive growth in our economy and support business”.
It is quite clear that the Northern Territory Labor government recognises the value of the tourism industry. That industry contributes significantly to the Northern Territory’s economic growth, to employment and to the health of other small businesses. They have a policy towards this industry in the Northern Territory that contrasts with the approach of the Stanhope government to the tourism industry in the ACT.
What we see proposed is a reduction in funding for tourism. The quote in the paper was, I believe, that it is funded at 173 per cent above the per capita basis. The evidence is overwhelming from across Australia that investment in the tourism industry generates strong benefits for an economy, and the contra situation also applies. Any fall off in investment in the tourism industry leads to a slow down in economic activity. I am very sad, Mr Speaker, that as a direct result of your government’s financial ineptitude, such critical activities as tourism face very difficult times ahead.
Death of Pat Ticehurst
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (5.06): I join with the Chief Minister in expressing my sorrow, and that of my staff, at the passing of Pat Ticehurst. I have known Pat for a number of years as a member of the Labor Party and as a member of our community and in the role of a member of the Chief Minister’s staff.
Like many in this place, I was shocked to learn of her illness and now, all too soon, we stand here to recognise her premature death. I acknowledge her as the extremely fine person that she was. She was, as the Chief Minister has already said, a hardworking member of his staff. I experienced her as that staff member, not only as a member now but as a worker in the not-for-profit sector who needed to have dealings with the Chief Minister on a number of occasions over many years. I appreciated her professional and supportive approach to me and to those of my other staff in my then organisation. After my election, I also experienced that very same professional approach to her work.
However, people are more than their paid work roles. As the Chief Minister has already said, Pat was a wife, a mother of two daughters and grandparent of a number of grandchildren and was an active member of her local community and the wider Canberra community.
Noel, in particular, suffers this loss most keenly, of course, and I pass on my condolences to him and to Pat’s daughters, grandchildren and other members of the family. However, all who knew Pat have lost out through her passing.
But Pat has left her mark on her family, her party, her community and her workplace, and this cannot be denied; nor can it be wiped away by her death. Neither can it be
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