Page 4758 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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Give Ms Gallagher her due—and I have said this several times—she got something wrong in this place one day and she did the right thing. She came back the next day and made the apology and corrected the record. Mr Barr is never seen when he is wrong. His sitting there, giving us a lecture, is most unfortunate, particularly when most people in this debate have been quite positive. That is the problem.
To get back to accommodation, any event, any festival, has the potential to have an effect on the accommodation sector but it was not consulted. On at least three different pages, it says that it will be critical to take account of the availability of accommodation. But Mr Barr says they did not have to be consulted. These can greatly assist in ensuring even more and consistent demand for accommodation. That will have an impact on this sector. This is my favourite, page 21, paragraph 6:
It will also be essential to plan future accommodation and other infrastructure requirements for tourism and events.
It does have an impact. Mr Loxton says it does. He says, “Plan for it, get ready for it, it is coming.” If we build this up, one of the things you have to account for is where they will sleep. Will they be like the people who came to the Masterpieces, which was fabulous, but did not stay because they could not get a bed? That is the problem. You need to plan for all three. I look forward to seeing these plans.
The Assembly has called on the government to do this. I expect the government to deliver in February their response to Loxton and their plan for festivals and events. I expect to see their plan for developing new attractions in the ACT and I expect to see tabled in this place their plan for the accommodation industry in the ACT as per the wishes of the Assembly expressed today.
Mr Barr: Why don’t we nationalise it? The accommodation industry, we will nationalise it. There’s a thought!
MR SMYTH: Again, more insincere comments, insipid comments, from the minister who has no interest whatsoever in this portfolio. And that is a shame.
I certainly thank the Greens for their support in this. I note that there has been no massive attack or counterattack or any reasons put forward by the government for this not to go ahead; so we take that as tacit agreement that it will go ahead. I look forward to seeing tabled in this place in February three plans that will assist the attractions, the events and the accommodation industries in the ACT go forward.
Amendments agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Health—breast cancer
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.16): I move:
That this Assembly notes:
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