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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [12.20 p.m.]: For some time New South Wales has had an inability to secure major events. I strongly believe that this inability has been dragging the State down. Certainly we have a beautiful harbour and stunning beaches. We have the best city in the world, but we cannot sit back and expect major events to simply land on our doorstep. New South Wales must become competitive again. Sydney must get its zing back to secure major events. We have tinkered around the edges but we have done nothing to take the opportunity to promote this great city to the world. The current culture in this city, particularly accepted by the Rees Government, is that second best is okay.
I digress to pay particular tribute to Events New South Wales for its positive work. I praise it for ensuring that the recent Layne Beachley Classic on the northern beaches went ahead. The Minister for Tourism, who has a passion for ecotourism, became involved when this women's surfing competition was in danger of not being held. To the credit of Events New South Wales, a compromise was found and it provided more funds to ensure that this event will continue. Events like women's surfing is a celebration of some of the world's best athletes coming to our city to showcase to our children and the community not only our healthy lifestyle but also our athletic performance. At the same time the eyes of the world turn to our city when such events come to these shores.
I certainly support the broad tenets of the Major Events Bill 2009 and what the Government is trying to achieve through it. In my discussions with the member for Pittwater specific concerns were identified in some clauses. He will address those particularly, but I share those concerns. However, I shall talk about the bill on a more macro level. We consistently hear from the Rees Labor Government that the Opposition does not have policy or vision. In relation to major events we do. The shadow Minister has articulated an intricate understanding of major events and the role they can play in this State. I certainly support him.
For this bill to achieve the biggest and broadest economic benefit for the State, government agencies and departments must work together to ensure that public transport is available and runs on time, traffic flows smoothly and policing is seamless so that every major event visitor to this State has a positive experience of New South Wales to share with others when they return home and in turn come back here. New South Wales is missing out time and again on the marquee events to draw people back to Sydney. The bill certainly is a move in the right direction and it brings us in line with Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand. Without this sort of legislation we have been behind each of those jurisdictions. Taking on the concept of securing large events for this State as a priority of government together with a culture of thinking big will provide the means for going forward.
In her agreement in principle speech the Minister for Tourism said that major events bring significant economic and community benefits to the State. I agree strongly. For too long New South Wales has failed to put its hat in the ring for critical and major events. I ask the Minister to consider two proposals as part of an overriding need to change the culture and structure of how we secure major events in this State.
The first relates to facilities. Facilities attract tourists and conferences. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre is a critical strategic missing link in our push to secure major events. A report last year by Events New South Wales Chairman John O'Neill found that Sydney lost 494 events over the past four years due to inadequate conference and exhibition space. The resulting cost to the economy was calculated at $477 million a year or, in the great parlance of the Rees Government, it cost 3,000 jobs. On the release of the report John O'Neill said, "Sydney is a global city" - we all agree - "yet no coordinated strategy exists to capitalise on Sydney's strength to sustain and enhance it". The Managing Director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Christopher Brown, said:
Sydney was losing the equivalent of one Rugby World Cup event every year because Australian and overseas event organisations were turning to Melbourne or regional cities such as Singapore, instead of Sydney.
It does not take a rocket scientist to work out that you need the right infrastructure to attract conferences and exhibitions. Part of an overall major events strategy is to go after the large events and conferences and bring them to the city. One consideration is for the Sydney Entertainment Centre to be an international conference and exhibition space and Homebush to be used as a domestic conference and exhibition space for regional New South Wales or within the country. Certainly, we need to be positioned so that we are not at a competitive disadvantage as we are in so many other indicators. Our infrastructure must be the best and we must have a culture of action and belief that Sydney is the best city and we are determined to show it to the world by attracting the best events.
The second aspect is that we need big events. Melbourne has the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open, the AFL grand final, the Formula One and many Broadway productions that choose to open in Melbourne rather than Sydney. Comparing that list of events with what we have pursued in this State most recently, three come to mind. We had the powerboats, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Brian Eno. I am not going to criticise Events New South Wales for securing those events because we need to start somewhere, but it is not hard to see that we are accepting second best. Whether it is budget constraints or the culture of Ministers in this State I do not know, but we need to think much bigger. The events are there for the taking. Melbourne got Tiger Woods. Whether one likes golf, Tiger Woods is a world identity who would have brought world attention to our city.
Other major events include the Commonwealth Games. Have we sought to secure the Commonwealth Games for Sydney? We have the facilities at Homebush. The Commonwealth Games would be a great event to pursue. Are we promoting the Sydney Marathon? We hear about the Boston Marathon, the New York Marathon and the London Marathon. Sydney holds various marathons, but we should coordinate them into a single marathon to create Sydney as the Asia-Pacific capital of marathon events. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has an outdoor sculpture exhibition every summer; people sit and look at it across Central Park. It does not take much to work out that looking across Central Park is no comparison to looking out over Sydney Harbour. We should pursue myriad events such as the world surf titles, the world triathlon championships and even the staging of the greatest symphonies in the world.
Why does the world have the Cannes Film Festival? Sydney should pursue holding a similar festival. When you believe that Sydney is the best city in the world and you follow that belief with action, all those attractions will find their way to our shores. Our State Ministers should take it upon themselves to promote Sydney and the rest of New South Wales to the world. Certainly, these sorts of events bring economic benefits to our State, but there is also the zing factor, which will benefit the New South Wales community when the rest of the world is enjoying what we already know is the best. I call on the New South Wales Government to start securing big events, to think bigger, to support Events New South Wales and to provide the infrastructure required to secure these events. If the Government does that, I believe that will not only create the economic benefits to which I have referred but will also restore Sydney as the place to be in Australia—the city with zing! With the Government's current major events strategy, we will not see any of that occur.
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