Page 4744 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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guess, the four seasons that Canberra has. We do very well in spring. In the autumn period we have had the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition. The minister for tourism is working on announcing the autumn event, but there should be further opportunities identified around the winter and summer seasons.
I think that is all fairly sensible and in some respects straightforward. Some of the other changes around coordination and responsibilities within government are things that we will genuinely take very seriously. We will have a look at our own processes, because as a key partner in the provision of festivals and in support of tourism events it is important that we have our own house in order.
If processes and systems have over the years developed, due to no ill will by anybody, that need to be strengthened and better coordinated, that is something that this government is very able to respond to and will do so very quickly. Our idea of our role particularly in major events is to provide the environment for those major events to come, to flourish and to support our local economy. That is very much what I say to the tourism and events industry whenever I meet with them.
In relation to festivals, there are targets that are a little different. They are really targeted to local community events. The government does have a range of programs and support programs identified. If there are ways to improve on those, we are certainly open to that as well. But the Loxton review gives us the opportunity to improve. I think that was the intention of the government when we commissioned this work. It was not commissioned with the intention of giving Brendan Smyth a glory 15 minutes in the Assembly to criticise—
Mr Smyth: Always so negative, Katy.
MS GALLAGHER: It was not commissioned with the intention to provide another football for political discussion. It was commissioned with the sole purpose of looking at how we could improve on the current delivery of events and festivals within the ACT, particularly in the lead-up to the centenary. The report has come back. It has made a number of recommendations. We have released that to the community. I think from memory the close of community consultations is early November. That will inform the government’s response to this report. We will be able to provide an update to the Assembly in February around those recommendations.
But I do not think it is fair to criticise the government for actually commissioning a piece of work that enabled us to focus on continuous improvement. I think we have a very proud record in delivering events. We do not have the lemons that have hung around as was the case with the previous government. We do not have the embarrassment of heavily subsidised events that were going nowhere or picking winners that went nowhere. We have targeted our assistance and to date it has been incredibly successful and has enabled us to showcase Canberra as the beautiful city that it is and that we all love.
So let us build on that proud record. Let us respond to these recommendations and invite community input. They will inform the government’s response. Let us build up the best events and festivals calendar that we can in the lead-up to our city’s 100th birthday celebrations.
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