Page 4743 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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together. What about the V8 car race? What about that? What about the subsidies? We actually paid every person who went there essentially $60 to go and have a look at it. It was a subsidy of $60 for every spectator. There was a $6 million cost blowout for that event over the years it ran here. Look at the debacle of the Australian international hotel school that again this government had to clean up. We had fees for Floriade. Every Canberran had to pay to go and see Floriade.
They are the record of your achievements. I think we need to look now at what we have done. Look at how we have built up Floriade. Look at the successful Masterpieces from Paris exhibition of last year. Look at the community celebrations like Celebration in the Park, like Symphony in the Park, like the candle festival in our partnership with Nara. Look at the new year’s celebration, the Australia Day celebrations, the world mountain bike championships.
Mr Smyth: We had new year’s celebrations. We had Australia Day celebrations.
MS GALLAGHER: You did have celebrations on New Year’s Eve. In preparing for this speech today, I was actually shocked to realise that it was a quarter of a million dollars for one midnight fireworks show. It cost a quarter of a million dollars for one midnight fireworks show. What a lot of money!
Our fireworks show, two events at 9 o’clock and midnight, cost $50,000 a year 10 years after the event that you managed for a cost of a quarter of a million dollars. I cannot get my head around how many fireworks that is for $250,000 for one event. Now we have an event at 9 o’clock in the city, we have a dance party and, in breaking news, this year we have the Whitlams coming. They will be on stage before 9 o’clock and after 9 o’clock. We will then have another celebration at midnight as well.
I think this review is useful in terms of paving a way forward. This government is putting a lot of energy into the centenary celebrations. That gives us the opportunity to build the events and festivals calendar in the lead-up to that celebration. That is what we intend to do and that is why these reviews are so important. The government is happy to provide an update to the Assembly on the government’s response and the feedback we get from the community in terms of the discussions that we are having with them now. I do not think there is an issue with that.
I understand from amendments circulated but not yet moved that there is a further request for the government to outline a plan for new attractions for the ACT and a plan for the accommodation industry in the ACT. It does fall outside the Loxton report but I think the government is prepared to accept that and provide that information to the Assembly. I understand from advice provided to me that that work is already underway.
I think it is unfortunate when we talk down the festivals and events processes and the calendar of events and the work that goes into it. I know from the work that we all do in this place that there are thousands of Canberrans who work hard every year to individually deliver their own passion and their own area of interest.
I think the government accepts that our processes and, indeed, the calendar itself could be better coordinated and opportunity should be identified to focus in on, I
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