Page 4713 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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effectiveness of ACT events, funds and festivals could be improved. Paragraph 9 says there is the need for a clearer identity. Paragraph 10 says the strongest support for clearer future directions and policies comes from outside the government. So it goes on. It talks about people attempting to plan an event in the ACT flying blind and that events are being planned without any clear schedule or calendar for major events or any interactive online focal point.
That outlines the situation. This motion is about moving forward. I ask the ministers to consider this motion, and I say “ministers” because it is hard to point this motion at any particular minister, and that is part of the problem. We had the interesting situation on ABC radio where the station rang Mr Barr, but Mr Barr did not want to do it. Ms Gallagher said it was not her portfolio but she could do it as Acting Chief Minister. Ms Burch could have been asked. If the Chief Minister was here instead of being on holiday, he could have done it. That highlights the lack of coordination. For an industry as important as tourism to the future of this city—now that we know it is just a regional subsidy approach that the current government have been taking, thanks to Mr Barr’s comments yesterday—it is important that we get this right.
This government clearly has little capacity to devise an effective approach to tourism matters, and it is confirmed by the reports. No doubt, the minister and his colleagues will put the most positive spin on this report that they can, as, indeed, the Acting Chief Minister tried to do. I anticipate that with interest. But let us get to the heart of it and let us address the issue at the heart of this. Let us not hide the reality that this report should be a major wake-up call to this government to get its act together.
If a government lacks vision, lacks policy, lacks strategy and lacks coordination, as the consultant concludes, this does not leave much else for the government to make a mess of. What is even more concerning is that these damning findings relate to one of our most significant industries, and that is the sad bit. This is an industry that we should be bolstering, not hindering. I am hard pressed to recall a more damning set of findings, except perhaps for some of the conclusions that have been reached by the ACT Auditor-General.
The report does warrant close consideration, coming as it does after the release of the survey conducted by Tourism Research Australia in collaboration with Australian Capital Tourism in May this year. It found that a number of visitors to the ACT were not satisfied with their experience. The survey also found there was a dearth of appropriate accommodation options for visitors to the ACT and that many visitors faced difficulties in accessing appropriate transport within Canberra. The ACT community is still waiting for this government to provide a real response and a reasoned response to this survey. I suspect we will wait and wait and wait.
While we wait for that response, the report from Peter Loxton and Associates is yet another detailed insight into the problems faced by the ACT tourism industry. This report is another sign that this government is simply not delivering in planning for the future of the industry as well as planning for the future of Canberra as a major tourism destination. The damning content in this report is really what is set out by the consultants in the executive summary, as I have read.
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