the amendment moved by the sports minister. This year’s Nikon SuperGP was a fantastic event for
motor sports fans, the Gold Coast economy, local jobs and for Queensland tourism generally. It was
always going to be a tough year for attracting tourism numbers to the event. We cannot forget that the
domestic and international tourism industries have suffered significantly over the past 24 months. We
have had bad weather, airline cuts and the global financial crisis which affected overseas and domestic
visitation. Now we have the Australian dollar. By the way, Monaco was down 40 per cent this year. That
is the effect that the global financial crisis has had on motor racing.
While importers celebrate the strength of the Australian dollar at the moment, I can tell
honourable members that the tourism industry is not. Internationals are hesitant to come here as they
will not get the value they once did and locals are ditching local holidays for cheap overseas holidays as
a result of the strong dollar. Whilst we are starting to see some recovery within the tourism industry, we
are still some way from getting to the visitor numbers and expenditure we would like.
Out of the disappointment surrounding the 2009 event, it has to be said that the revised racing
format, which saw 600 kilometres of V8 supercar action over Saturday and Sunday along with the return
of the top 10 shoot-out, was outstanding. With more racing action than any other V8 event bar Bathurst,
this was the best outcome in the circumstances and it delighted V8 supercar fans.
On the other issue, now that the opposition finally has a few lawyers over there, including the
member for Clayfield, I point out that the simple fact of the matter is that when a contract is on foot there
is no breach, there is no anticipatory breach—we cannot base a recision of a contract on rumour and
gossip; there has to be a breach or an anticipatory breach. All the minister could do was ask the
appropriate questions and when he got the answers there was no ability to rescind the contract at that
stage. The lawyers amongst them should try to educate the rest of their mates.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations not just to the winners of the
featured V8 supercar events but to all the competitors, support crews, volunteers, spectators—
spectators from that side of the fence as well. They cannot get their stories straight. Some attended and
others were ringing people up saying, ‘For Christ’s sake, don’t go. Whatever you do, don’t go.’
