Page 4206 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 26 November 2013

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Opposition directed to both myself and Mr Gentleman today when we stood to ask questions?

MADAM SPEAKER: First of all, I do not answer questions at question time unless there is a question to me, not in a point of order. You do not ask questions in points of order. I keep order as much as I can, and I draw people’s attention to what I consider is inappropriate banter where people might get called names or inappropriate things are said. For instance, there have been times when language has been inappropriate. I have not heard any myself today but I do tend to be alive to that. But if I miss something and you want to make a point of order about a particular thing, I am happy to entertain it.

Mr Smyth: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I was simply trying to get an answer to my question, which was: did she have the quiet chat with Mr Manikis and what advice was provided? I do not think it has been come to at all. Perhaps she could mention something—

MADAM SPEAKER: There are eight seconds left. Have you got anything further to say in answer to the question, Minister Burch?

MS BURCH: No.

Tourism—events

MS PORTER: My question is to the Minister for Economic Development. Could the minister update the Assembly on the events that have been funded through the special events fund in 2013?

MR BARR: I thank Ms Porter for the question. I can, and the events are: Toulouse-Lautrec: Paris and the Moulin Rouge, the Turner from the Tate: the making of a master exhibition that was held at the beginning and in the middle of our centenary year, and three events that have been supported by the fund for the summer period 2013-14. They are: Mapping Our World, the exhibition that was opened by Russell Crowe at the National Library only recently; Gold and the Incas: lost worlds of Peru at the National Gallery, which opens to the public on 6 December, and one that I am sure all Elvis fans will be really looking forward to—the Elvis at 21 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which opens next month on the 7th and runs until March 2014.

MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Porter.

MS PORTER: Minister, why is it important that government invest in these events?

MR BARR: The government continues to invest in events because they are an important economic driver for the territory. The latest data from Tourism Research Australia shows that the tourism sector is contributing around $1.65 billion to our local economy each year, which is a tad over five per cent of our total gross state product. Data also shows that the tourism sector is one of the territory’s largest employers: generating around 16,000 jobs, it represents a little under eight per cent of


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