Thursday, 24 February 2022
Bills
Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Bills
Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Second reading
Debate resumed.
Ms SULEYMAN (St Albans) (14:46): I rise today to make a contribution on the Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Bill 2022. I know that many constituents in St Albans absolutely love sport. Whether it is Dylan, who just recently achieved the golden slam at the Olympics last year and made our country very proud, or seeing our athletes during the Winter Olympics this year, it has been really uplifting I think for the local community. I know that I shared many moments with my nephew watching the Winter Olympics, and it was fantastic to see Australia finishing 18th overall, ahead of the UK, and to see many athletes striving for their best, whether it was skiing, whether it was snowboarding or things that I personally probably will never be able to participate in but love watching.
I must admit I am not much of a skier. I have not actually had the opportunity to visit the alpine region or see snow. I will do my very best to take that opportunity in the future to see the great wonders of Victoria and in particular the alpine resorts in the mountains. We have already heard some contributions in relation to the alpine resorts in Victoria, that are spread out over six mountains, each with their own unique character. The southern alpine resorts are Lake Mountain; Mount Baw Baw; Mount Hotham, of course—much more iconic and popular—Falls Creek; Mount Buller; and Mount Stirling. These are real wonders for Victorians who enjoy skiing and visiting the regions.
In Victoria beginners can enjoy a lot of snow play, and of course, depending on your level, it really does cater for all. Whether it is cross-country skiing—much more at the beginners level—or zipping down the blue and black runs, it is an activity for all. We are very much blessed in Victoria to have these very beautiful alpine regions. But we know in the last two years these regions have been facing some challenges and difficulties. We know that the tourism economy has been challenged, and these have been extremely tough times for the tourism industry. We know that it is expensive to establish and maintain the infrastructure. We know climate change is rapidly occurring and changing the nature of the snow, the environment, the space and the threat of bushfires—and the list goes on. I acknowledge the impact of the global pandemic, COVID-19, which has really affected our slopes.
Why do we need this bill? The bill is important to the region because currently individual boards, we know, are doing a great job of managing these issues; however, they are limited to their own little patch. This is why the time is right to reform the alpine regions. This legislation will abolish the individual resort management boards and the Alpine Resorts Coordinating Council and bring them together, uniting them together into one organisation, Alpine Resorts Victoria—or the ARV. The key drivers of this reform are, one, financial stability, improving the economic viability of the alpine resorts not just for today but for future generations by bringing together the management to have a whole-of-sector, wraparound focus; and of course modernising governance to improve transparency and accountability.
As many in this chamber have already mentioned, the current legislation is over 20 years old and limits the ability to effectively respond to long-term challenges facing the sector. It really needed a renewal, and that is what this bill will do. It will strengthen our long-term climate change mitigation and planning across the sector in a coordinated way; improve efficiency and remove duplication, and we know duplication is a real, key difficulty for any organisation and any board; and build a whole-of-sector road map—and that is what is needed—out of COVID-19, to improve resilience so we can bring all the tourists back to the region and of course so Victorians can return to the alpine resorts. That is what is most needed, and this bill is part of that process.
The new Alpine Resorts Victoria will also need to consider the following principles. Of course I have already made reference to the unique environmental, social, cultural and economic characteristics of each resort. There is the planning for and managing of all resorts in a coordinated manner and respecting, protecting and promoting Aboriginal self-determination, cultural values, practices, heritage and knowledge in the resorts. This is about protecting and making sure that future generations can actually enjoy and understand the heritage value in our resorts. That is really important. Another principle is—I have already made reference to it, and I think it is one of the most important—making sure that we are promoting investment in a diverse range of tourism and recreation experiences for all seasons. So it is not just limited to a season, it is making sure that Victorians and tourists, whether national or global, are able to visit the regions at any time—whether it is winter, summer or during the Christmas break—to enjoy the activities, to enjoy the hospitality and to enjoy the unique services of the region.
I really do believe that our regions are very important. They are important for jobs and they are important for the economy and for bringing in the tourists. It is up to us all to protect and to invest in these regions. That is why the Andrews Labor government has a proud record of protecting our natural treasures. We have worked hard. We have consulted with the traditional owners, local government, tourism peak bodies, industry peak bodies and stakeholders throughout the region to develop good legislation, legislation for all the alpine regions and, most importantly, legislation advancing the principles that guide this legislation and making sure that the regions are accessible and enjoyed by all throughout the year. As I said, it is great legislation. It had not been renewed for the last 20 years; it is now being renewed for all the alpine resorts. The guiding principles are making sure that we are all able to enjoy the alpine regions into the future. I also want to thank the minister most importantly for being able to consult with all stakeholders to develop this. It is very important. As I said, this is great legislation—legislation that protects, invests and drives the economy back to the alpine regions for us all to enjoy throughout the years, and I commend the bill to the house.
Ms WARD (Eltham) (14:56): Like the member before me I also rise in support of this amended legislation, and I think she concluded her speech very eloquently talking about the investment that is required. It is important to have an integrated strategic sector-wide approach to our alpine areas, particularly in addressing the challenges of climate change. This is incredibly important. Before the minister leaves I would like to also thank her for the work that she is doing, especially with our deer strategy, which I will get to in this speech.
The Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in a study for the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council on the potential impacts of climate change on our alpine resorts found the following:
There is overall consensus around the world that natural snow cover and depth will continue to decline and the length of the ski season contract further as the climate warms;
Smaller resorts, those at lower altitudes, and those with inadequate snow-making facilities will be the most vulnerable to climate change;
Snow-making is expected to sustain the ski industry in many regions until the middle of this century using current snow-making technologies;
By mid-century there will be less natural snow and a significantly increased need for snowmaking at the same time as snow-making opportunities will decline. This may lead to shorter and less reliable ski seasons;
The economic costs of snow-making are expected to rise as natural snow cover declines, melting and evaporation rates increase and water and electricity costs rise. More snow will need to be made at warmer temperatures, particularly at the beginning of the ski season, at greater costs …
The economic viability of snow-making into the future will be determined by the extent of natural snow cover decline and the cost of snow-making required to sustain the ski season.
The ability of alpine resorts to absorb rising costs will depend strongly on visitor perceptions of climate change and their responses to declining and less reliable natural snow cover.
So you can see how important it is to have a coordinated approach to such a significant challenge to our alpine region and for our alpine resorts to be able to manage the response to climate change in a coordinated way that ensures the ongoing viability of our alpine regions and our alpine resorts.
As I said earlier, climate change is not the only threat to our alpine regions. Introduced species are also wreaking havoc, damage and destruction and also need a coordinated response. This is why I have welcomed the government’s deer control strategy. The Victorian Deer Control Strategy recognises that deer populations and their impacts have significantly increased in recent years. This is true in our alpine regions. The strategy outlines a process for a strategic and coordinated approach to deer control. Deer in Victoria are having a negative impact on our environment, on agriculture, on Aboriginal cultural heritage and on public safety, and while this is really a problem for our alpine regions, it includes outer suburbia. I have deer in my electorate. I have deer coming into properties in my electorate, I have deer being hit by cars, and I suspect that there are people in this chamber who might be surprised, but there are also people in this chamber who live not far from my electorate who would also have experienced deer in their headlights as they are heading home.
Four species of deer have established populations in Victoria: the fallow deer, the hog deer, the red deer and the sambar deer.
Mr Richardson: Oh, dear.
Ms WARD: Oh, dear indeed, member for Mordialloc. Acting Speaker Richards, here is something for you. This is a fun fact for Friday. It is Thursday, but it feels like Friday. The sambar deer are actually endangered in Sri Lanka. They are an endangered species in Sri Lanka, yet they are in plague proportions here in our state.
Mr Riordan interjected.
Ms WARD: It is incredible. Estimates say that the combined population of the species is between several hundred thousand and 1 million. There is evidence deer are spreading to new areas across Victoria at a rapid rate. Deer impact natural and agricultural systems, and I see the member for Polwarth here, who knows that there are deer in the Grampians as well.
Mr Riordan: The Otways are more concerning though.
Ms WARD: The Otways are also a concern. The deer impact natural and agricultural systems through browsing and grazing on a wide range of vegetation, antler rubbing, trampling, trail creation and wallowing. They ringbark trees—they rub against trees. They destroy so much natural habitat, particularly the natural habitat that our smaller indigenous animals need to survive and thrive. Deer pose a significant risk to biodiversity, having both direct and indirect impacts on native flora and fauna. Deer reduce and destroy native vegetation and compete with native wildlife for food sources.
Mr Riordan: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, on relevance, while I am enjoying the reminiscing and roaming around the beautiful regional Victorian countryside and I appreciate the member’s awareness of feral animals in the Otways—deer and pigs, and she could add to that list of course blackberries, ragwort and any number of other pests and pestilence that this government has overseen—we are talking about the alpine bill. When I had the opportunity earlier today to talk about this bill, I was able to compare and contrast the disaster of the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, which is just wreaking havoc on local communities, and I would appreciate the opportunity for the member, perhaps rather than talking about feral and wild animals around the state, to get back to the point—
A member: What’s your point of order?
Mr Riordan: On relevance, I am just helping—
The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Richards): There is no point of order. The debate has been wideranging, and I will ask the member for Eltham to continue.
Ms WARD: I find it quite surprising that the member for Polwarth would want to call a point of order when I was in a collegiate way recognising some of the challenges that he might have in his community around deer. Yes, this is a bill about alpine regions, and I have referred to the alpine regions quite extensively in this contribution, including the impacts of climate change on alpine regions. The member for Polwarth suggested that the Otways were also a problem. I recognise that that may indeed be true, yet he wants to call a point of order on the fact that I have recognised his contribution towards my contribution. That is a digression, Acting Speaker, and I will continue on with my train of thought—thank you, with your indulgence.
So, as I am explaining, in the alpine regions deer are a significant problem that needs a coordinated approach, and I am explaining the complexity of the response that is needed to the deer problem that we do have that particularly affects our alpine regions. As deer populations increase in an area, the biodiversity decreases. The Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation and the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation are both seeking to tackle the impacts of deer and other large invasive herbivores at 10 sites in Gippsland and six sites in central Victoria. Impacts of deer at these sites include soil compaction and erosion, damaged native plant species and competition with native species for grazing in grassy, shrubby and herb-rich woodlands.
The objective of the strategy and framework is to prevent new deer species from becoming established in Victoria, including in our alpine regions, remove isolated deer populations and limit the spread of deer to new areas. The strategy creates regional deer control partnership groups to guide the regional deer control plans and their implementation. Partnership groups will comprise local stakeholders involved and interested in managing deer impacts and may include land managers; local government; traditional owners; and conservation, industry and community groups—something that will be much easier to coordinate with the amendments to this legislation that will enable one body to bring together all of these different groups and help that coordinated response to the challenges that our alpine regions face, such as climate change, such as pest invasion, such as these deer.
An important change that we have made is the decision to declare the deer a pest. This changes land management’s ability to control deer by removing the need for authorisation to control them under the Wildlife Act 1975. Ground shooting is the preferred method to control deer, but aerial shooting is now being used where inaccessible and remote terrain, such as in our alpine regions, make ground shooting impractical. More than ever before this is an important program. After the 2019–20 bushfires, removing deer and feral animals from priority fire-affected and adjacent areas to give native plants, plant communities and animals the best chance of recovery was so important. The bushfires had devastating impacts on native species in large areas of habitat. More than ever before the damage that deer do to these areas presents a significant threat to recovery and even survival for native vegetation and animals. As our fire seasons continue to worsen due to climate change this will only become more important. It is something that we need help with for our alpine regions, and I support this amendment to the legislation.
Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (15:07): It is great to be able to rise on the Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 and follow a colleague on the former Environment and Natural Resources Committee—
Ms Ward interjected.
Mr RICHARDSON: I was intently listening because I thought it would underpin a large part of this speech in doing so. But I reflect on the significant impacts of deer population—the sambar deer, which I did not know were endangered in Sri Lanka. I tell you what: that was a well-research speech, member for Eltham.
When we think about the position of our alpine communities now, and indeed the important work of the Alpine Resorts Victoria organisation and the coming together of four boards, they are at a critical juncture. That is something I will reflect on in my contribution as well, particularly when we think about the substantial changes to our land, to our communities. We reflect on the hundreds of years before and the huge changes, the substantial damage of introduced species. Some impacts on our biodiversity will never be repaired and it will be impacted in terms of extinction and change to our ecological system, and that is why it is so critically important to have traditional owners contributing to the next journey and pathway.
We are at such a critical juncture for our alpine communities and our usages now. We are right on the edge of some of the most dangerous and destructive impacts of climate change and the impacts of introduced and invasive species, some of which we will not get back. Whether that is deer, whether that is feral cats, whether that is weed varieties, they are in some regions in plague proportions. The committee report that the member for Eltham, I and other members were a part of showed in its recommendations how difficult that approach will be.
All those challenges require a coordinated approach, and bringing together those boards into one in Alpine Resources Victoria is an approach which will be really critical.
Ms Ward interjected.
Mr RICHARDSON: As the member for Eltham says, that is what regional communities are seeking. This is on the back also of an unprecedented pandemic and the impact on those businesses and those communities.
This comes at a critical juncture for setting the policy and the narrative into the future. The legislation previously was 20 years in the making. The board will have such an important role to shepherd this region through into the future and make sure that our alpine resorts, our alpine regions, are dominant into the future. The alpine regions are filled with so much joy for Victorians who get to experience them, whether it is in winter or across the summer months.
I have very fond reflections of different parts of time through there. The 4 Peaks mountain challenge through the alpines that my father-in-law, Brian, does—you would not get me on a bike in lycra for the 4 Peaks mountain challenge, but you will get me in a Hyundai following behind, bringing the water and the Gatorade. There would be no chance at all to get me out on a bike, but you see thousands coming into the townships and really enjoying and appreciating what locals cherish each and every day. It is really pristine country, with some of the most beautiful areas. To respectfully come in and enjoy it for a weekend or enjoy it for a period of time is a real privilege—to put money back into those economies for the welcoming embrace of those local communities who welcome people from all over Victoria and indeed all over our nation. And when we are back to experiencing international travel like we have been, these are some of the areas that people gravitate towards.
There was a time I gave myself a concussion coming down a nice little green run and forgetting how to snowplough at one of these resorts. I left a trail of destruction behind me, including skis and gloves and everything else, but I got to eventually go down a couple of double blacks. That underpinned a trip to New Zealand that is buried deep down; some of those photos could end me as the member for Mordialloc if they ever surface again. But I have lots of great memories. When young Victorians or young Australians can enjoy those slopes and enjoy the wonderful elements of those ski fields and those resorts, the first moment that kids get the chance, if they have not seen snow before, to engage like that and experience that and then go on to learn a little bit about how beautiful these areas are is a really special moment. I know for my family it will be something that I cherish when my little ones get a chance to have a crack on those ski fields.
A member interjected.
Mr RICHARDSON: Yes, no pun intended. It brings such a great economic benefit to our state. I think it is the $1.1 billion number that a lot of people have talked about, but it is jobs and it is communities into the future as well. So bringing together that focus and that vision is so very critical.
Also I see one of the key elements and principles that are defining the new board and its work is to look at the broader usages or engagement not just in the three or four months of the ski season. I have mentioned the cycling season as well, but the tourism appeal and the visitor economy through here are all year round, and other things that we can do to attract investment, tourism and business into the future are really so critical. I acknowledge as well the work that has been done to this point by those boards and by those communities to get to this point, but with all the challenges presenting—the huge challenge of climate change—there is action that we need to take.
These alpine resorts, these communities, absolutely know the challenges posed by a changing climate. The risk of bushfires, the risk of less snow in those seasons as well and the risk of more unpredictable weather events are massive challenges. Some of that is at a macro level that requires national policy leadership. There is state leadership like we have seen in our investment in renewable energy and our response to climate change, but when we have a stagnated approach nationally it has huge ramifications that flow on. It is not just when we talk about impacts of climate change on old fuel industries; it has the overflow effect of impacting on tourism. Whether it is in the Great Barrier Reef, whether it is in the alpine regions, whether it is down the member for Polwarth’s way on the Great Ocean Road, we all have an investment in making sure that we protect and respect our really beautiful tourism precincts that are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. That will be a key focus in the work of the board and the new alpine resort principles. One of those will be that guiding principle.
I know the member for Frankston and a number of other members laboured the point around the importance of the involvement of Indigenous communities in promoting Aboriginal self-determination and the work that has been done to this point. It is a really critical element in everything that our government does. We are leading the way in supporting Aboriginal self-determination, respect, reconciliation and treaty, and that is something that at this moment in time in Victoria, while it should have been a long time ago, under the leadership of this government we have made a lot of ground on, but we have so much more to do. In every element of policy and at every juncture that we have an opportunity to do better, we should strive to do just that. This is another element where we see not just platitudes, not just words, but actions finding their way into statute books and finding their way into policy outcomes. I have seen that across the board in my work as the Parliamentary Secretary for Schools, and to see that as a critical key principle going forward to underpin the important matters before the minister and soon Alpine Resorts Victoria is really encouraging. It is really exciting see at this juncture.
While there are a lot of challenges up ahead, there is also a lot of opportunity. Bringing together the economies of scale of these four resorts into one coordinated board and bringing the different skills and different contributions that members will make is a really fulfilling and important role at this point in time in Victoria’s alpine story. I am really excited to see what opportunities present themselves and how this board and the work that they do—in conjunction with the industries, in conjunction with traditional owners and indeed with our tourism sector—can make sure our alpine regions more vibrant and prosperous into the future and continue to support jobs and investment and the visitor economy. I think that can be a shared ambition of this Parliament and something that we all can welcome.
Whether you have had the opportunity and privilege to visit or not, all Victorians would have a knowledge of the alpine region. If they have had the chance to visit, they would have been captured by the beauty and the charm. I have served on committees with these two, the member for Benambra and the member for Ovens Valley. They did have a debate from time to time on whose electorate was the most beautiful. I put up a stern defence for the electorate of Mordialloc, and I still say it is number one ranked, but they are very privileged to serve some of the most beautiful regions, and I include upper house members Gepp and Symes as well in those beautiful communities.
It is a great bill and a great piece of legislation. It has been 20 years in the making, and we look forward to a prosperous and fruitful future for our alpine communities for years to come.
Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe—Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (15:17): I am pleased to contribute to the Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Bill 2022. I want to pay tribute to many involved in the organisations across our alpine resorts, particularly off the back of my involvement in parliamentary secretary roles for the environment in the past. For many years there I would attend the opening of the ski season and catch up with the resort management boards, the CEOs, the ski lift operators, the businesses, the ski lodge volunteers and the broader groups on the work that they do in an intense period of work across the snow season. In particular, people like Laurie Blampied, who of course is the ski lifts general manager at Mount Buller, have had a lot of great conversations with me, building my empathy and understanding for the work that is so critical.
With snowmaking the technology is improving, but there is climate change and weather is affecting the number of days available for natural snow to form and also for snowmaking to actually get a grip and a hold in challenging climate conditions. The ski season is fundamentally in the snow depth. It is becoming a shorter season, but at the same time the technology around snowmaking has increased and improved, so there have been these other elements about how to work better to have an economic and fundamental change around how the ski season operates. Part of that is also through investment of some $7.5 million by the Andrews government to build a new dam at Mount Buller, particularly through some regional development infrastructure investment. I was happy and pleased to be able to work on that project with them, because that was about needing a water source, not only for firefighting and not only for drinking water on the mountain but also for snowmaking. That then brings some certainty for the seasons and future investment from organisations, whether it is around hospitality and businesses or the significant infrastructure around snowmaking.
I was really pleased to work with people like Mark Bennetts, the CEO at Mount Buller Alpine Resort management board (RMB). But also, again, in time, I was also able to catch up with Jon Hutchins, who was the CEO at the Mount Hotham resort management board, on the work they were doing at Hotham. Each resort management board is really dealing with different offerings for communities. Hotham has its different challenges, particularly around the peaks and the narrowness and the steepness, which appeals particularly to powder hounds, unlike myself, but I can understand the different offering there. They have got the airport nearby. Then you have got over at Buller, close to Melbourne, a range of opportunities around, with Mount Stirling for beginners and engaging with families and school groups—again, a very different offering to Hotham. And then of course there are the other alpine resorts. So you are trying to manage what the spend is for visitors coming in and how to get them to stay longer.
Another element that has been interesting to watch over the years is engagement from governments and from MPs of the Parliament around the opening of the ski season, being involved in that work. But if you are not someone who is familiar with the ski season—it is not a part of your leisure activities or your involvement and engagement, particularly as the cost is significant—it can be pretty intimidating to head up to the snow, sort out what you are doing with chains and the rest of it, find somewhere to stay, get all the gear and work out how to get lessons. There is a lot to it. There is a lot to it if it is not something that you have grown up with, been fundamentally involved and engaged with.
I know a family who have been involved at Benalla Ski Club over a very long period of time, and that has provided some opportunities in more recent years for me to be engaged with that, to have our daughter in the ski school and to understand and be involved in what it is all about—but I think we need to have a greater engagement from members of Parliament and from government around support for the ski season. We need to look back at some of the more traditional arrangements that we had that made it a bit easier for members of Parliament to be engaged and involved in what that means, because even the opening of the season is across a long weekend and there is a lot involved in getting up the mountain. It is not simple stuff sometimes. And while there is a lot of change, I think to have a greater empathy and understanding of the sector there is more we could do to align opportunities for the house and for the Parliament to understand and be engaged in the ski season, what that means for those communities and the economic drivers that it presents for regional communities.
I want to say also that I think these reforms are really important. We know that what we are really seeking to do here is abolish those alpine resort management boards at Falls Creek, Hotham, Buller and Mount Stirling, the Southern Alpine Resort Management Board and the Alpine Resorts Coordinating Council. The abolition of those and the establishment of their successor, Alpine Resorts Victoria, really will get them to the point where they are all doing good work. There is duplication and there are points of difference, but ultimately they need to be speaking with one voice. We need to streamline those arrangements and have an effective set-up where what we are seeing is a strategic economic and social values response to how we are going to manage the alpine resource on very significant Crown land. It is a natural environment where development has to be done and maintained very carefully, where we have got huge numbers of people for relatively short periods of time. How do you also unlock the potential of those investments in the summer season? We have heard speakers around those matters and on traditional owners and engagement on land with them across all of the work around embedding traditional owners’ voices in our alpine resort governance.
I have seen firsthand the commitment and work from volunteers in ski lodges and the work that they do. I have seen also the absolute commitment from our board members and our executive teams across the RMBs, but I do think it is time to harness and pull those resources together in the way in which this bill outlines. It is a very significant contributor to jobs, to investment in regional communities, to make sure that people are staying and spending their resources across those regional communities, but we need to sharpen it up. We need to learn from what has gone before in how we meet those challenges around climate change, about very significant alpine environments that have challenges in the summer seasons that we try to engage in because of climate change, just as much as the risks that we run around water, and how you manage a built environment in these alpine communities. It is a natural progression; it is a maturing of the sector. It is a piece of work, and I have spoken in plenty of meetings with alpine resort boards up on the mountain about the challenges that they face and the really good work that they do.
My role as Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers—disability support and access—is to provide opportunities for people, also from low-income communities, and to facilitate arrangements for them to get up to the snow, to spend time on the mountains, and to support them to have a good experience. There is a lot going on in that social justice space too, and I commend those alpine resort boards for their work. No-one is saying the work they have done has not been effective, but this is the next part of the evolution of what we need to do. They should take a lot of credit I think for being on that journey, for helping us to bring forward this reform around Alpine Resorts Victoria. It is going to help secure the future of winter sports, winter tourism, on the mountains and a better protection and advancement of the interests of traditional owners, also with an understanding of, ‘Well, how do we unlock the potential on the mountains through the summer period and do that in an effective way?’.
Certainly some of my experiences have been both at the Benalla ski lodge but also in meeting ski lodge managers, the alpine resort communities, the volunteers that do such great and effective work to maintain a lot of the lodges, the schools and other communities. It has been part of the lives of people for decades and generations, and they work in tandem and in harness with those alpine resort boards. People up there are committed because they are passionate about it and they believe in it. Victoria has a really great offering. But what is also important is to now harness and pull that experience, that expertise and that work, into Alpine Resorts Victoria.
The proof will be in the pudding. The work still needs to be done, but this is a natural progression and a reform that I welcome. It is in part thanks to the really effective work of our resort management boards over a long period of time. I think to speak with one voice, to harness those resources and efforts, is going to bring further benefits to the industry and will sustain it in the face of challenges around climate change as well. I do commend the bill and these reforms to the house, and I look forward to continuing to support and work with our regional communities and our alpine resort boards in this transition. They really deserve these reforms and will do much with them.
That the debate be adjourned.
Motion agreed to and debate adjourned.
Ordered that debate be adjourned until later this day.