Bledisloe Cup Test Match

Mr DOWNY: Why did the Minister for Sport and Recreation allow the Bledisloe Cup test match to be stolen from Sydney by Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett without putting up a fight? Has the Melbourne major events organisation forecast that the match will generate $14 million for the Victorian economy - money that should have stayed in New South Wales?

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Hurstville to order.

Ms HARRISON: My God, he is alive!

Mr O'Doherty: On a point of order.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Minister for the Environment to order.

Mr O'Doherty: I find that reference offensive.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. The member will have the opportunity to make a personal explanation at the end of question time.

Ms HARRISON: I am happy to rephrase my statement. Oh my goodness, he is alive! The honourable member for Sutherland has been missing for a very long time. I have been waiting and waiting for a question on sport. Do honourable members know how many questions on sport I have been asked this year?

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I remind honourable members that one member has already left the Chamber for interjecting.

Ms HARRISON: Have I had a single question on sport in 1996? No, I have not.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning to order.

Ms HARRISON: So I am absolutely delighted to hear from the honourable member for Sutherland. I have been waiting and waiting to see whether the honourable member for Sutherland would put out any press releases. I am fairly new to this House compared with other honourable members, so a bit of constructive criticism goes down well in my office. I have a file on my desk that contains all the press releases that the honourable member for Sutherland, the shadow minister, has put out this year.

Mr Hartcher: On a point of order.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the Minister for the Environment on three calls to order.

Mr Hartcher: Mr Speaker, you have made a ruling concerning the use of props. The Minister for Sport and Recreation is waving around a file simply as a prop. She is using an empty file simply to attract attention.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! What the member has said has some validity. The Minister may not display the press release but should return it to the folder.

Ms HARRISON: I have been asked a question about rugby union. I would love to quote from the press release, but there is so much wrong with it that I am loath to do so. I do not want to discourage the honourable member for Sutherland as it was a good first effort. I was angry and disturbed, as was every rugby union fan in New South Wales, to hear that the Bledisloe Cup had gone to Melbourne. It was the wrong decision by the
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Australian Rugby Union and a direct slap in the face for every rugby union fan in this State. Over the past two financial years this Government has contributed over $600,000 to support rugby union in this State - money that has been used to develop junior rugby union and country rugby union.

This Government has put its money where its mouth is. It has helped and supported rugby union in this State. New South Wales is the foundation State for rugby union in this country. The ARU owed it to its fans to keep the Bledisloe Cup in New South Wales. The Bledisloe Cup should have stayed in New South Wales and the ARU should have been true to its fans. The ARU has made a commercial decision to take the game away from New South Wales. At a meeting held between the chief executive officer of the Sydney cricket and football stadium and the financial controller of the ARU -

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the Deputy Leader of the National Party on three calls to order.

Ms HARRISON: At that meeting it was said that Kennett had offered a package - New South Wales had also offered a generous package - which meant that New South Wales had to cough up an extra half a million dollars to meet the package offered by Kennett. We were told that we would have to do at least that, if not more, to keep the Bledisloe Cup in New South Wales. I refused - and I make no apologies for refusing - to enter into a bidding war to keep any event in New South Wales.

Mr Collins: You will lose the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Ms HARRISON: Oh, wow, that is dumb!

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the honourable member for The Hills on three calls to order.

Ms HARRISON: I am delighted to hear from the Leader of the Opposition, who said that we may lose the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. What the Leader of the Opposition does not know, obviously because he is no admiral, is that a Melbourne to Hobart yacht race is held at the same time as the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. I do not know where the Leader of the Opposition got his sailing credentials, but I suggest that it was probably in the bathtub. This Government could do as the previous Government did and pour millions of dollars into obtaining events so that we could stick on a rugby jumper, just like Jeff Kennett, and do a little pirouette and big-note ourselves over an event.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the honourable member for Strathfield on three calls to order. I place the honourable member for Baulkham Hills on three calls to order.

Ms HARRISON: Just look at what the former Government did with Eastern Creek to get the grand prix - it spent $135 million on Eastern Creek so that it could grandstand. I will not do it.

Mr Photios: What's left after you?

Ms HARRISON: What's left?

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the Serjeant-of-Arms to remove the honourable member for Ermington.

Mr Photios: I will not go without Pam Allan. She was named three times and she was not thrown out -

[Interruption]

[Questions without notice interrupted.]