Thursday, 2 November 2023

Ministers statements: Melbourne Cup Carnival

Anthony CARBINES (Ivanhoe – Minister for Police, Minister for Crime Prevention, Minister for Racing) (14:31): I rise to update the house on the 2023 Melbourne Cup Carnival. The carnival of course is an unrivalled and unequalled world-class event encompassing the finest in racing, entertainment, fashion, culture, food and wine all in the one place at Flemington. At headquarters on Saturday will be the 170th running of the Victoria Derby, and on Tuesday we will see the 163rd running of the Melbourne Cup. 250,000 people are expected over the four days of the carnival, and we anticipate an economic boost to Victoria of some $438 million this year in the tourism, retail and hospitality sectors. Let us give a shout-out to all those small businesses and those workers that are going to make this Melbourne Cup Carnival a huge success. That includes the fashion industry, where we spent something like $34 million last year; more than 230,000 clothing items were purchased. Of course we have also got those racegoers, who are expected to spend $35 million on accommodation and $28 million on food and drink. Special Melbourne Cup Carnival-themed cruise ships have also disembarked 8000 tourists and visitors – 80 per cent of our corporate sales for Cup Day are from interstate and overseas tourists.

Let us thank the horses – they are the real starts of the sport. The Allan Labor government is committed to ensuring the highest standard of equine welfare, investing $9.5 million in equine welfare projects. New safety measures are being introduced by Racing Victoria. We thought that might stop the attendance of international runners, but we have seen a return of a strong contingent from overseas – from the UK, Ireland and Japan. We also saw last week Romantic Warrior and the Hong Kong connections and the elation that I know Niddrie and Essendon saw. The horse conquered the Cox Plate at the Valley.

On Cup Day there will be racing right across the state, including at places like Wangaratta, Bairnsdale, Mildura and Echuca. Can I just say that some wowsers want to cut down the Melbourne Cup and they want to ban racing jobs. The Allan Labor government and most of this house support racing – (Time expired)

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Speaker, I would like to draw your attention to 14 unanswered questions on notice that I would appreciate being followed up: 152 to the Attorney-General, 155 and 273 to the Minister for Education, 401 to the Minister for Environment, and the Minister for Roads and Road Safety has got quite a lot: 635, 636, 637, 638, 639 and 640. Question 641 is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport, 642 is to the Minister for Education, 660 is to the Minister for Environment and 661 is to the Minister for Road and Road Safety. I would appreciate those being followed up for me.

Chris Crewther: On a point of order, Speaker, if you could please follow up with the Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC on constituency question 286, which I asked back in August. It is now nearly two months overdue, and Paul and others in my electorate deserve an answer regarding inconsistencies in WorkSafe claim rates.

Roma Britnell: On a point of order, Speaker, I rise regarding several overdue answers to my questions. Questions 295, 688, 341 and 531 remain unanswered by the relevant ministers despite being overdue.