Ms SACILOTTO - 2006-03-29
This week, concrete piling started on the Darwin convention centre. We know that, once completed, the convention centre will be a significant drawcard for Darwin. Can you please inform the House what sort of interest is being shown in this most important addition to the city?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am delighted to answer the question from the member for Port Darwin, who is particularly interested in a very major development in her electorate. I spent part of lunchtime at the waterfront, meeting six convention planners - who came from Brisbane and Sydney and are here working with the Northern Territory Convention Bureau and Ogden, who will be the operators of the convention centre when it is built in two years’ time - talking about Darwin as a convention site and the plans for the waterfront and the convention centre.
I met them at the waterfront and we looked at the model. I explained what was happening. We could look at the construction, the seawall and the convention centre pad. I can report to the House that there was a great deal of enthusiasm. When they saw the site of the convention centre, some who had never visited Darwin were delighted with what they were seeing - not only what they saw of the whole convention centre site, but the position of the site. The fact that you could watch storms rolling in during the Wet Season, they thought was a unique attraction. They did ask me: ‘If we are having dinners at the convention centre, can we be assured there will be a storm rolling in?’ I said I would do my best. It is certainly one of the great highlights of having a convention centre where it is positioned, that you can watch those storms rolling in during the Wet Season.
There is no doubt about the importance of the convention centre market to us; that is why we are building a convention centre. Alice Springs has definitely seen the benefits. I congratulate the Alice Springs Convention Centre;, they have a great 12 months coming up with a lot of bookings.
Each and every delegate coming to the Territory is worth $270 a night for us, because conventions are really about the economic flow-on. With the building of the convention centre, we have assessed an additional $190m of flow-on benefit to our community over a period of 20 years. That is for restaurants, retailers, hairdressers, tour operators, taxi drivers - across the whole board - which is why we are so committed to building the convention centre.
I am pleased to tell you that we already have one convention booked, which is the International Association of Women in Policing Conference. That is booked for 2008, with something like 700 delegates from 40 different countries. We are off to a flying start. Gauged by the reaction from these convention planners today, I believe our convention centre in Darwin will do very well.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am delighted to answer the question from the member for Port Darwin, who is particularly interested in a very major development in her electorate. I spent part of lunchtime at the waterfront, meeting six convention planners - who came from Brisbane and Sydney and are here working with the Northern Territory Convention Bureau and Ogden, who will be the operators of the convention centre when it is built in two years’ time - talking about Darwin as a convention site and the plans for the waterfront and the convention centre.
I met them at the waterfront and we looked at the model. I explained what was happening. We could look at the construction, the seawall and the convention centre pad. I can report to the House that there was a great deal of enthusiasm. When they saw the site of the convention centre, some who had never visited Darwin were delighted with what they were seeing - not only what they saw of the whole convention centre site, but the position of the site. The fact that you could watch storms rolling in during the Wet Season, they thought was a unique attraction. They did ask me: ‘If we are having dinners at the convention centre, can we be assured there will be a storm rolling in?’ I said I would do my best. It is certainly one of the great highlights of having a convention centre where it is positioned, that you can watch those storms rolling in during the Wet Season.
There is no doubt about the importance of the convention centre market to us; that is why we are building a convention centre. Alice Springs has definitely seen the benefits. I congratulate the Alice Springs Convention Centre;, they have a great 12 months coming up with a lot of bookings.
Each and every delegate coming to the Territory is worth $270 a night for us, because conventions are really about the economic flow-on. With the building of the convention centre, we have assessed an additional $190m of flow-on benefit to our community over a period of 20 years. That is for restaurants, retailers, hairdressers, tour operators, taxi drivers - across the whole board - which is why we are so committed to building the convention centre.
I am pleased to tell you that we already have one convention booked, which is the International Association of Women in Policing Conference. That is booked for 2008, with something like 700 delegates from 40 different countries. We are off to a flying start. Gauged by the reaction from these convention planners today, I believe our convention centre in Darwin will do very well.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016