We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples and the Traditional Custodians of Ngunnawal Country, the land on which we meet today. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and also recognise any other people or families with connection to the ACT and Region.
David Pocock, Senator for the ACT
Sen. Pocock spoke about Federal Government decisions impacting the ACT.
In his last Forum presentation, Sen. Pocock spoke about the ACT infrastructure investment campaign 'A Vision for Canberra'.
“It was a vision about what we think our city can be, what ambition we want for not just the National Capital, but as a a thriving city in its own right.”
“In the last 12 months it’s been pretty frustrating, we haven't seen things delivered in a way we were promised once we had a Labor government at the Commonwealth on the territory level…that we’d see an investment in the ACT but we haven’t seen that yet.”
“The ACT doesn’t have projects that are good to go except for light rail, we still don’t know, after two decades, where this Convention Centre will be rebuilt. We’re on our seventh feasibility study for the stadium and there is serious work to do at the local level.”
The Senator said it’s frustrating in Senate estimates to see a lack of funding proposals being put forward.
“You see the type of money flowing to other jurisdictions and then you ask did the ACT Government ask for money? No not in this round.”
Canberra is a regional hub and Sen. Pocock wants to see this reflected in funding.
“We saw $9 billion with Commonwealth money go to states and territories. The ACT was the only jurisdiction that didn't get a cent of that.”
“We’re seeing things like Canberra United, one of our great women’s teams in crisis…my understanding is this is a funding shortfall of a few hundred thousand.”
Sen. Pocock also spoke about the men’s Canberra United team bid being “held up by not having a plan for the stadium”.
He spoke about alternative ways to build up the revenue base, like the exemption for the public service from payroll tax.
Sen. Pocock spoke about a number of other issues facing the Territory, including price of housing and cost of living. He mentioned work underway to support the Housing Australia Future Fund, amendments to the Water Act and $50 million secured to support the Murrumbidgee River.
Sen. Pocock spoke about $10 million secured for small businesses to help facilitate the government's paid parental leave payments.
He spoke about procurement, where the Government spends $70 billion per year but the system doesn’t deliver for small businesses.
There’s an enquiry looking at sovereign technology capability, particularly for small businesses who “can’t get a foot in the door with Government or Defence”.
“Small businesses are innovative, they have the goods and services the Commonwealth needs and is going to buy. I argue that we should be looking here in Australia first before we go with the multinationals.”
Question - Have you spoken with Chief Minister about this lack of infrastructure projects the Commonwealth can fund?
“Yes I have had a couple of conversations… the Chief Minister has spoken publicly about light rail being the priority and not wanting to have too many infrastructure projects.
I get that but on the other hand, what I'm hearing from businesses in Canberra and Civic is just the urgency. They've been strung along for decades now and they want to see action.”
Question - What difference will Independents make in ACT government elections?
“What I’ve seen in federal parliament is Independents raising issues that matter, that are politically inconvenient for the major parties.
I’m accountable to Canberrans…if I don’t deliver, they’ll go back to the major parties.
What I’d hope you get is people who are there for the right reasons, they’re not career politicians, they’ve done other things, they’re there to make a difference. I’m really interested to see how they shape up for the Territory election.”
Sen. Pocock's speech was featured in Riotact on 4 April 2024.
Stephanie Bull, Director of the Museum of Australian Democracy
Ms. Bull acknowledged that the land on which MOAD sits has been a place for First Nations people to meet and debate for millennia.
“MOAD is a modern museum housed in the nationally significant building of Old Parliament House, known as the ‘People’s House’.
“Our role is to encourage visitors to engage with our political and democratic history and be inspired to participate in Australia's democracy.”
Ms Bull gave a presentation themed ‘Top 8 travel tips for MOAD – stories of how MOAD plays an important role in tourism’. These included:
- The story of the Banville family who travelled from Maryborough QLD to participate in the official opening of Old Parliament House. A piece of memorabilia surfaced in recent years when the Banville family donated a piece of the red carpet used on the day to the Duke and Duchess of York.
- The story of the Hon Sir Robert Menzies and how his daughter Heather’s experience as a new mother helped transform the national capital from ‘six suburbs in search of a city’ to the city we have today.
- Stories of the many people who come to MOAD on election day to ‘vote where history happened’.
- The story of Indigenous artist Jack Green who uses art to communicate important messages to government, mining companies and other organisations.
Examples of MOAD in action include last year’s campaign ‘Discover the A-Z of Australian Referendums’ and participation in Enlighten which is about “making democracy accessible and fun for everyone”.
MOAD is one of the drivers that brings more than 80,000 school students to Canberra every year – this has flow on effects for tourism operators.
As we head towards the centenary of Old Parliament House in 2027, MOAD “remains the People’s House’”.
Jan Hutton, CEO of Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW)
Ms. Hutton spoke about the digital economy, and how collaboration and partnerships are crucial for empowering local tourism businesses.
About the ATDW
In 2001, Australia’s official tourism bodies came together with a shared purpose –to help local tourism businesses increase their online reach.
- From this collaborative spirit, ATDW was born.
- A platform to power the digital future of tourism for Australia.
How it’s going
- Today, ATDW supports more than 55,000 locals, connecting them to an impressive 80 million potential reach annually.
- Featuring nearly 90% of the nation's accommodation & attractions.
That's what they thought 22 years ago and that mission remains consistent today.
“We have a distribution strategy that is domestic across Australia and also internationally through all STOs (state tourism organisations), obviously Tourism Australia, the regional tourism organizations, but also partners like Qantas.”
Co-creating the future
“It holds true for an organization like ours, which is lean but has a massive footprint.”
“A little while ago, we looked at our businesses and we asked where we added meaningful value, were we remaining relevant, how do we ensure we remain ahead of the curve of where tourism is going?
And in many instances, these are challenges that also present as incredible opportunities to improve the competitiveness of Australian tourism…this is the context in which we built our future strategy.”
“We knew that we needed industry. We did 60,000 surveys, we put together 23 working groups, 100 committee meetings and one national partnership.”
“We're an organization that is saying, We want to hear from you…build our strategy around industry needs...how can we build a national asset that industry owns?”
Ms. Hutton spoke about bringing strategy and tools together in a key partnership with Deloitte Digital.
ATDW will have a new name and a new data strategy, focused on building the richest dataset for sustainable tourism and accessibility.
They’re focused on building out content for the future and ‘strategies for our businesses that are based on evidence’.
Ms Hutton showed a video about GuideGeek, a business using AI to transform tourism.
Dr David Marshall, Chair of the Leaders Forum welcomed new supporting partner, Canberra Airport. Canberra Airport’s goal is a simple but ambitious one – to be the best small airport in the world.
With a stunning, modern terminal, thriving business precincts and connections to 13 domestic and 2 international destinations, Canberra’s world-class airport is well on the way to achieving this goal.
Dr Marshall also;
- Congratulated recent winners in the Australian Tourism Awards
- Congratulated AMPLIFY CBR on the success of Skyfire.
- Noted the Destination Canberra Conference will be held at Canberra Rex Hotel on Wednesday 24th July.
- Mentioned the Canberra Monopoly board, now available.
Next forum Thursday 2 May 2024.
Agenda:
9.00am H.E. Dr Siswo Pramono, Indonesian Ambassador to Australia on Indonesian tourist visitations increasing into Australia, the newly announced Batik Air flights into the ACT and students studying in Canberra
9.20am Hon Alicia Payne MP, Member for Canberra on the outcomes of the inquiry into ‘fostering and promoting the significance of Australia’s National Capital’.
9.40am Michael Thomson, Head of Aviation Canberra Airport on current and potential carriers choosing to fly to the National Capital
Thanks to our partner, Hiebl Photography, for these photos of the Forum.