Mrs BRAHAM - 2001-03-01
We all recognise the benefits sports clubs get from the grants given by the government. We know that the government gets many submissions and only has so much money to dish out, and we know the process in Cabinet whereby the funds are distributed.
Since I was not in Cabinet since 20 December, the minister has distributed $417 470 in grants. Good stuff. The Italian Club in Darwin received $68 000, Waratahs $22 000, and so it goes on. How much did Alice Springs clubs get out of that $417 000 - $7238. Terrible - $7238.
I know the minister is looking at putting the upgrade of Marrara on the budget list. I ask the minister - to show that it is not so biased towards the Top End, and that Alice Springs will get their fair share of funding - will you fund the Alice Springs upgrading of the hockey field. This application has been in from the Alice Springs Hockey Association for over 12 months.
Minister, would you stop the bias that is occurring at the moment towards the Top End, and fund this project?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that is a good question from the member for Braitling. She has partly answered it herself. The category 3 grants that come out three times a year, every four months, are generally limited to clubs, up to a limit of $5000, and they are distributed very broadly across the Territory. In fact, I recall last year reading out a list and got compliments from the opposition. They went very broadly, and they assisted all sorts of clubs.
However, you should also be aware that many of those clubs have their headquarters in Darwin, and they then distribute the funds across the Territory. I have here a list which I will table for honourable members, listing some 75 clubs and organisations in central Australia who have received funding over the last three years, many of them more than once or twice.
Mrs Braham: And also the ones in Darwin and the Top End who received funding. Table those as well. Only Alice Springs - why didn’t you show us the lot. Show us the lot.
Mr LUGG: These are exclusively central Australia. However, there occurred an event in Alice Springs last year called the Honda Master Games, and this government put over $1m into that. I commissioned a report to look critically at benefits to the town. Ernst & Young have given me a report, and they said it generated $4.5m worth of economic activity. Now, that is a big boon for the centre, and it certainly gives the lie to where we put $1m every two years into one special event. For the benefit of honourable members, I would point out that it was in Alice Springs in 1986. It was pioneered in Australia. Now there are over 46 of them around the country. I will just read some of the other things they had to say in the report:
The report also demonstrated that 60% of participants at the 2000 games plan on returning in 2002. A recent decline in participation numbers across Masters Games [and this was about 8% down on the 1998 figures] was attributable to the Australian Masters Games, the 2002 World Masters in Melbourne, the Olympic Games, and a host of other national events.
Yet we still attracted to Alice Springs - which really is the jewel in the Crown of masters games - something like 94% of visitors achieved the previous year, generating $4.5m activity in the town.
It is a good story for the central Australian clubs and organisations and I table this list.
I will just point out that since you were last in Cabinet in December, that is when the last period finished. There will be another one coming out in April and they do vary from grant period to grant period, and the sprinkling is not entirely consistent. It is not a homogeneous mix; it goes where the need is.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Since I was not in Cabinet since 20 December, the minister has distributed $417 470 in grants. Good stuff. The Italian Club in Darwin received $68 000, Waratahs $22 000, and so it goes on. How much did Alice Springs clubs get out of that $417 000 - $7238. Terrible - $7238.
I know the minister is looking at putting the upgrade of Marrara on the budget list. I ask the minister - to show that it is not so biased towards the Top End, and that Alice Springs will get their fair share of funding - will you fund the Alice Springs upgrading of the hockey field. This application has been in from the Alice Springs Hockey Association for over 12 months.
Minister, would you stop the bias that is occurring at the moment towards the Top End, and fund this project?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that is a good question from the member for Braitling. She has partly answered it herself. The category 3 grants that come out three times a year, every four months, are generally limited to clubs, up to a limit of $5000, and they are distributed very broadly across the Territory. In fact, I recall last year reading out a list and got compliments from the opposition. They went very broadly, and they assisted all sorts of clubs.
However, you should also be aware that many of those clubs have their headquarters in Darwin, and they then distribute the funds across the Territory. I have here a list which I will table for honourable members, listing some 75 clubs and organisations in central Australia who have received funding over the last three years, many of them more than once or twice.
Mrs Braham: And also the ones in Darwin and the Top End who received funding. Table those as well. Only Alice Springs - why didn’t you show us the lot. Show us the lot.
Mr LUGG: These are exclusively central Australia. However, there occurred an event in Alice Springs last year called the Honda Master Games, and this government put over $1m into that. I commissioned a report to look critically at benefits to the town. Ernst & Young have given me a report, and they said it generated $4.5m worth of economic activity. Now, that is a big boon for the centre, and it certainly gives the lie to where we put $1m every two years into one special event. For the benefit of honourable members, I would point out that it was in Alice Springs in 1986. It was pioneered in Australia. Now there are over 46 of them around the country. I will just read some of the other things they had to say in the report:
The report also demonstrated that 60% of participants at the 2000 games plan on returning in 2002. A recent decline in participation numbers across Masters Games [and this was about 8% down on the 1998 figures] was attributable to the Australian Masters Games, the 2002 World Masters in Melbourne, the Olympic Games, and a host of other national events.
Yet we still attracted to Alice Springs - which really is the jewel in the Crown of masters games - something like 94% of visitors achieved the previous year, generating $4.5m activity in the town.
It is a good story for the central Australian clubs and organisations and I table this list.
I will just point out that since you were last in Cabinet in December, that is when the last period finished. There will be another one coming out in April and they do vary from grant period to grant period, and the sprinkling is not entirely consistent. It is not a homogeneous mix; it goes where the need is.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016