Page 2670 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 11 August 2015

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One of Mr Coe’s key claims was that this was an attempt to boost Anna Reynolds’s federal election campaign for the seat of Denison. Yet Andrew Wilkie, the sitting member for Denison, was invited to and actively participated in the event. I think most people can see that if you are trying to gain some sort of political advantage you would hardly provide a platform for your key competitor. That is the very point. It was a stakeholder roundtable convened as part of the ongoing work by people in the community and in government to advocate for the development of light rail in Hobart. One of the outcomes of the session was the establishment of the light rail forum as a permanent cross-party advocacy group.

I was invited to speak at the forum to share the experience of the ACT and to talk about progress on the light rail project. I attended the forum as a minister in the ACT government who had been actively involved in the development of light rail in Canberra. It was also an opportunity for me to learn from another jurisdiction which was also planning a light rail network. It was relatively early in the development of the project here in the ACT. At that time the Capital Metro Agency had not yet been established and there was no appointed minister responsible for the delivery of the project.

As I have said previously and in interviews I did last week, I believe it is a legitimate and important thing for politicians to travel to share skills, discuss policy and build networks across jurisdictions, and that is what this event in Hobart was all about.

Hospitality industry—awards

MR COE (Ginninderra) (9.48): I rise today to place on the record my congratulations to the winners of the 2015 AHA ACT hospitality awards. The annual awards night on 27 July was attended by more than 460 industry, hospitality and political leaders. There were a record number of entries to the awards this year. The awards were hosted by Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes and recognised the outstanding achievements of local hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, cafes and their employees.

The award winners were as follows: the John Press award went to David Quinn from the Duxton. Member of the year went to Todd Handy from East Hotel. The hall of fame inductee went to Hotel Realm. Best restaurant service employee, accommodation division, went to Bryan Cronan from the Avenue Hotel Canberra. Best restaurant service employee, general division, went to Jordan Hackett from Taze. Best restaurant cookery employee went to Prasantha Giragama from Crowne Plaza Canberra. Best apprentice chef went to Tara Chainey from Walt and Burley. Best front of house employee went to Sunil Choudhary from Crowne Plaza Canberra. Best bar service employee, accommodation division, went to Kyle Papworth from Avenue Hotel Canberra. Best bar service employee, general division, went to Liam Thomson from the George Harcourt Inn.

Best bar in a hotel went to Monster Kitchen and Bar at Hotel Hotel. Best hotel restaurant went to Lilo Tang, Burbury Hotel. Best cocktail bar went to Molly. Best wine list went to Capital Bar and Grill at QT Canberra. Best cafe restaurant went to the District. Best restaurant went to Pialligo Estate. Best prestigious restaurant went to


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