Page 4029 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Let me go back to the report that Ernst & Young did, seeing as how Ernst & Young is being quoted by Mr Rattenbury. Ernst & Young research indicates that Canberra is underperforming in business events and is not taking advantage of growth opportunities. Chief Minister, through you, Mr Assistant Speaker, that is your responsibility. Why are we underperforming? Why haven’t we taken advantage of growth opportunities? With the right convention centre infrastructure, and by leveraging its national capital assets, Canberra could triple the size of its business events market and reach the same performance levels as Adelaide. As an indication of Canberra’s performance, we are ranked at 264, Cairns is 134 and Adelaide is 142. We are behind the game, members.
I would love to see a graphic on the front page of the Canberra Times in the morning, perhaps with the logos of all the Canberra organisations that support this. The full list is amazingly impressive. What you see in these documents—members cannot see it—is a page and a half of logos. I would like to see 55 logos saying yes and then, in the no column, just the logo of the ACT ALP. They are the ones who are standing in the way of this important bit of infrastructure.
Let us read the list again. I will finish by reading the list again so that there is no doubt. I am actually surprised that this list has not been read more often or appeared more often in the media. In my 15-odd years in this place, never have I seen the business community so united on an issue. There are people on this list who I know, for instance, like the train set. There are people, I know, who would love a stadium. But they have put aside their personal desires to say what is best for this city. And I will tell you that what is best for this city is that we get a convention centre. Why is it good for this city? Because, as Ernst & Young say, significant moneys will come to the city if this is built. You only have to read the documents that have been provided to us to know this. In one of the Ernst & Young documents it says that we could probably treble the size of the billion-dollar business that business events are in the ACT—treble it. That would put money in the government’s coffers and help pay for things like sub-acute hospitals and train sets.
But let us read the list, and I will finish with the list, members. These are the people who want you to vote in favour of urgently establishing a convention centre in the ACT. These are the people that have signed up. The statement is in the document that has been sent to you all. Let me read the statement again. Let me read the last sentence:
Canberra is Australia’s capital and it takes its role seriously. A 21st century events venue is needed urgently and it is appropriate that such a facility stand alongside the national and international institutions in Canberra.
These are the people that have signed up to that: the Academy of Science, the Australian Catholic University, the Australian Institute of Sport, the Australian National University, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the Australian War Memorial, the CSIRO, the Museum of Australian Democracy, the National Archives, the National Film and Sound Archive, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Library of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video