Carnell's Killing Floriade

Wayne Berry - Opposition Spokesperson on Tourism

Media Statement - 27 October 1999

This year's Floriade attendance figures, which show a drop of 300,000 visitors, have confirmed everyone's worst fears, Labor's Shadow Tourism Minster Wayne Berry said today. It was revealed last week that the 1999 Floriade attendance was down on last year but the Chief Minister refuse to release the figures last week when the Assembly was sitting.

"No wonder the Chief Minister didn't want to table the figures last week when Assembly Members could scrutinise them.

"This year's figures demonstrate that concerns raised in the last two years over Kate Carnell's meddling in Floriade, our biggest tourist attraction were valid.

"The community could be excused for believing that Kate Carnell has it in for Floriade, her actions over the last two years point to that:

• Firstly last year's disastrous introduction of fees dropped on an unsuspecting public and tourism industry at the last moment. This hit tourism operators and Floriade stall holders and affected attendances;
• Then this year the 11th hour announcement that night sessions were cancelled - another blow to operators who had already booked tours with night sessions; and
• The doubts over the future of the festival expressed by the Chief Minister and her refusal to guarantee the future of Floriade.

"The annual report shows that the Chief Minister turned a $187,000 profit in 1997 to loss of $878,000 in 1998. Now today's release of the 1999 attendance figures show a drop from 467,000 in 1998 to 162,000 in 1999 - the Chief Minister's actions have turned two thirds of the visitors away.

"No amount of platitudes about the weather can explain away the fact that Canberrans have rejected the entrance fee and the repeated 'last minute tinkering' with Floriade," Berry concluded.