Some of what I will say about the Silverdome is already known to members because I think this area was touched on just prior to my coming into this House. Probably in about 2003, it might have been, it was a government business enterprise that was looked at. But, nevertheless, there are some issues and I will refer to those issues.

The Silverdome has been the subject of much discussion, Mr President, for a considerable time and it has now reached the stage where the Government, in fact, is fairly anxious to part company with it and obviously pass it off to the Launceston City Council, and that is well known. That also came out of these discussions that we had. I think that would be a good move in relation to the Silverdome and would ensure the long-term viability and existence of a rather unique and large complex. It is on the fringe of Launceston and a lot of people already erroneously believe that it is in the ownership of the Launceston City Council. They often refer to it as a Launceston council owned building when, in fact, we know it is not.

The velodrome, as that name suggests, was built for cycling but it also accommodates other athletes, hosts functions, exhibitions, shows and concerts, and also it is currently the meeting -

Mr Aird - Do you know who was responsible for making the velodrome hard to operate, right from day one?

Mr DEAN - No.

Mr Aird - Charlie Walsh, when he was coach of the Australian cycling team.

Mr DEAN - Is that right?

Mr Aird - He would not let them move from Adelaide to Launceston and the original intention was to move them from Adelaide to Launceston.

Mr DEAN - Is that right?

Mr Finch - Absolutely.

Mr DEAN - Thank you very much for that, Mr Leader, I was not aware of that.

Mr Aird - Every time I see the Crows play and he is sitting on the bench, I fume, because he limited the possibility for that to be a great institution.

Mr DEAN - I was going to say, Mr President, it is also, currently, the meeting place for the beginning of the Targa event which is a big exhibition taking place in that facility. I would hope that next year it will still be used for that same purpose, and I do hope that Targa does not move to the south of the State, as has been already mentioned in this House.

Mrs Rattray-Wagner - The roads wouldn't be bad enough for them to drive on down here.

Mr DEAN - Maybe you are right. This centre - and it came out of the briefing and is well known - requires huge funding to bring it up to a reasonable functioning standard. During our meetings regarding this centre, it was made abundantly clear by users of the centre, specifically sporting bodies, that they were often frustrated and annoyed at being pushed aside at the expense of larger and more profitable exhibitions, functions and concerts.

I am not sure for how long this will be tolerated as there was an indication that some current users are looking at other facilities. What they have said is, 'We use the facility but when something else comes along, we are pushed aside for those other concerts and other exhibitions to take place at our expense'. That is the comment that was made to us by some of these users and, specifically, St Patrick's was mentioned, if I remember correctly, as now having an area recently constructed that would meet their needs. I hope that we can move quickly enough here to cut that off so that we can keep those people in that facility at the Silverdome.

I can understand the management wanting to accommodate the bigger events as that is where a larger proportion of income eventuates. It was said that if this did not occur, sporting bodies and other day-to-day users would most likely pay increased hiring fees. It is a bit of a 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' situation, Mr President. It is a matter that really does need looking at it. As I said, I do not blame the centre for doing that because they need those funds and it is a matter that we need to sort out fairly quickly.

Balancing of finances is critical to the long-term viability of the centre and this is a strong reason for the State and local government to now come together, in my view, and move forward in the ownership and management future of the Silverdome. Having said this, use in 2003-04 increased from 64 per cent in 2002-03 - this is use I am talking about - to 78 per cent in the year 2003-04, which is a positive position. It is good to see the centre now being used more and that is increasing as we move ahead.

I am also aware that the Launceston City Council and the State have recently started talks on the future position of the centre and the role council should play in it. In actual fact, Mr President, as recently as about two weeks ago I was able to have a further conversation with the minister, Mr Cox, in relation to this facility as to where we currently are with it and he indicated then that he was waiting on the Launceston City Council to come back to him with a position. I am just hoping that that occurs within the next few weeks. I would hope that it does and I am told it will do.

If we look nationally at local governments, they are generally finding it tough to balance budgets against providing all the services required of them. I think most members would be aware now that during the recent ALGA conference in September 2004 a motion was passed in relation to councils receiving a share of GST. This was recently raised by a local government in this State and it would seem that that council raising that may not have been aware of the ALGA motion. What I am getting at here is that no local government can afford to accept cost shifting in any way and if the Launceston City Council is going to become a main player in the Silverdome - and I think they should - I support that. I must say that previously I did not but now looking at the situation more closely and taking every -

Mr Aird - Is this part of your campaign to become mayor?

Mr DEAN - We will disregard that statement.

Mr Aird - That's an interesting response.

Mr DEAN - It must be cost negative or profitable. The Launceston City Council is highly unlikely to commit the ratepayers to continuing towards a current annual loss as has been experienced by the south and that is a strong position, as I understand, of the Launceston City Council. In fact that is right, Mr President.

The Launceston City Council advisers are currently getting all available data together to help in the decision-making process. We are told that the current building repairs and maintenance are costed at about $1.1 million. That is just for the maintenance of this building. That is the costing that we have been provided with. We also know that maintenance and changes to the sporting facilities, which are also necessary in bringing this building up to a reasonable standard, are also costed at a similar amount, about $1.1 million. We also know that the annual running costs of the velodrome are in the vicinity of $250 000 and part of those costs are absorbed by the four permanent staff and the 57 casuals who work within that centre.

Engineers' reports have been done and the future direction of the centre is being seriously considered. Generally it is the feeling of interested bodies that if the facilities are maintained or, in this instance, are brought up to a good standard, with good marketing, competitive rates, positive profiling and hard work, much improved sporting utilisation and event utilisation is a reality. That was coming through to us clearly during our GBE scrutiny processes with these people. They were some of the comments, Mr President, that they were making to us, that with some hard work and better marketing in particular, they believe they can make it work and can turn around the profit of that centre in the long term.

This centre, as it currently stands, is said to be one of the better netball facilities in the nation and I think that with the maintenance schedule to take place it is likely to become the best national netball facility and we do look forward to it being internationally recognised. That is, I guess, a surprising statement for me to hear during that process, that it is considered to be of that standard for netball. While we were working with interested groups during the GBE process the issue of accessing the Silverdome was raised. I am told that this has been a contentious point over a long period and rates a mention whenever the Silverdome is being discussed. Mr President, some would be aware that there is an emergency access exit directly for the highway and the possibility of opening up the road is likely to feature in State-local government discussions in the near future. This is a huge issue and I understand that there will be some moves in relation to that access at the end of the day and it may well feature in discussions with the State Government in relation to the ownership of this centre if it does change.

With the Launceston City Council's recent discussions and decision on their aquatic centre during which other sporting facilities also featured, now would seem to be the right time to identify a clear strategy, direction and ownership of the Silverdome. At this time I refer to some of the information contained in the Launceston City Council Project Scoping Report which was made known and is publicised in most media, going back several months ago when this decision was made in council, the scoping report into sporting and recreational infrastructure for the city of Launceston. This report, in addition to determining the way forward for an aquatic centre, also looked at the other sporting infrastructure necessary for the city. As the title suggests, the project looked at the aquatic leisure facility, the Elphin Sports Centre which is another huge cost that may need to be incurred there to bring that up to a good standard, and also the Silverdome. So those three areas were looked at in that scoping report of the Launceston City Council. This report was accepted by a full meeting of the council and therefore it can be seen that the Launceston City Council has a genuine interest in the Silverdome and that in the right circumstances would take over the control and the ownership of that centre.

Interestingly, on my questioning the minister, Mr Cox, to my probing and repeated questioning on State funding of the aquatic centre, the minister was very careful in providing answers to me regarding the funding to update the Silverdome and where it was likely to come from in particular. I think members would remember that. My concern was that the aquatic leisure facility funding, as promised by the State, would likely be interfered with in favour of the Silverdome, and that was the point I was making during that process. The council report on funding sources identifies that the Silverdome funding is likely to come from the $8 million identified by the State for the aquatic funding for the aquatic centre. That same report also identifies that the necessary Elphin Sports Centre upgrading funds, Mr President, will also come from the promised $8 million funding. So we now see the aquatic funding reduced to about $5.3 million. There has now been, as I understand, a further correction probably of the costs of doing up and bringing to a reasonable level the maintenance of the Silverdome. It has probably been increased to $1.2 million in both areas, so that would mean even less money, at the end of the day, for the aquatic centre. That is a real concern for the Launceston City Council at this present time.

Will it all come to fruition? I hope so, for the benefit of the region and the State - that is, the directions in relation to the Silverdome, the maintenance and transfer of ownership of that premises.

The conclusions that our committee reached in relation to our investigation of the Silverdome, Mr President, were these: there has been no firm commitment that the International Velodrome will remain in government ownership; there is a concern that there will be a loss of patrons if a decision in relation to the future of the Velodrome is not made as a matter of urgency; the proposed maintenance work to be carried out on the Velodrome site will increase the future viability of its operation. We have to remember these conclusions were made in February/March when we looked at this GBE.

In conclusion, Mr President, I thank all members of our hardworking committee, all those people in groups who were very candid, as I said at the beginning, in providing their assistance and providing the evidence that they did. They were all very professional, all very willing and wanting to assist us in our process. I particularly recognise our chairperson, the member for Montgomery who did have a harder chore in keeping some of us in place. I also thank our Clerk of Committees, Mrs Sue McLeod for what she did for us and also for keeping us in line.