2 July 2009

New board for EPIC unveiled

| johnboy
Join the conversation
5

Andrew Barr has announced the new members for the board of Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC):

    New Members include Gary Byles, Tom Elliott and Liz Clarke of Territory and Municipal Services and
    Ms Chris Faulks, Chief Executive Officer, Canberra Business Council.

    Reappointed Board Members are Neale Guthrie of Territory Venues and Events and Mr Gil Anderson.

    Continuing Board Members are:
    • Robyn Hendry of the Canberra Convention Bureau
    • Peter Barclay, Proprietor of King O’Malley’s Irish Pub in Civic and
    • Jean McIntyre.

A lot of people on that board who are employees of the ACT Government one can’t help but notice.

UPDATE: The Liberals’ Brendan Smyth has expressed his unhappiness with the appointments:

    The Minister for Tourism, Andrew Barr, has thumbed his nose at a decision, made by the Legislative Assembly, to retain the independent Board of the Exhibition Park Corporation, according to the Shadow Minister for Tourism, Brendan Smyth.

    “In a disgraceful display of arrogance, the Minister has appointed four very senior ACT TAMS public servants to the Board of the Exhibition Park Corporation (EPC), as a means of bringing Exhibition Park under the direct influence of the Stanhope Gallagher Government,” Mr Smyth said.

    “This decision by the Minister flies in the face of a clear expression of the Assembly, when it voted on 5 May 2009 not to repeal the Exhibition Park Corporation Act.

    “In that debate, the Canberra Liberals argued strongly in favour of retaining an independent and commercially oriented Board for the EPC.

Join the conversation

5
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

housebound said :

If you can’t win: don’t get angry, get even.

The Government do both apparently, this is their version of a temper tantrum and rig the existing appointments to end at 30 june then bypass the requirement for assembly scrutiny by appointing public servants.

All the Greens and Libs have to do is team up to amend the Exhibition Park Corporation Act to impose additional conditions on the ‘skills required’ for appointment to the board, as is common in the legislation of other Territory Authorities.

Can someone tell me what the point was. I mean EPIC seems to be one of the few showgrounds in Australia that I actually want to go to more than once a year so they must be doing something right. They have a good mix of large and small events. Changing the management is just likely to f&&k it up, so no one uses it anymore.
I know that the local councils around OZ use their showgrounds as cash cows. I hope the stanhope govt isn’t planning on doing that.

If not, he jolly well should be.

Means Chic will have to cough up the mulla upfront next year me thinks

If you can’t win: don’t get angry, get even.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.