PR ErSS OFFI CE T R AINSCR( IPT 5 DECEMtBR, 1978IPrime
Minister Interviewed by Graham Dobell, ABC,
at Belconnen Mall Visual Arts Display by Southwest
Tourist Authority of Victoria.
Question How do you think you are going as a tourist promoter?
Prime Minister
I think Western Victoria is starting to go very well as
a tourist promoter because steadily and surely over the
last, I suppose, 10-15 years a great deal of attention has
been paid to facilities to bring to light and make people
aware of many items of interest in Western Victoria. The
facilities are there the hotel, the motel, the beaches,
lakes and the many things which are part of the natural
environment. Also there is a very real attempt to build
up items of historical interest Flagstaff Hill at
Warrnambool, you've got the exhibition here on that, which
goes back into some Australia's early history and past and
some of the interesting things that have occurred. This
is getting a response because, especially on the coastline
Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Portland, do attract many many
thousands of tourists in the summer months especially.
Question
Would you, for instance, consider opening Nareen as
a tourist attraction at some stage?
Prime Minister
I would have one reservation about that because Nareen to me
is a sanctuary. It's a place where~-. can-and) you can recharge
your own batteries and whatever. If it was opened as a tourist
resort or something well I think that might disappear. Nareen
has been open sometimes for fetes and and charities and one
time had 4,000 or 5,000 people through in one day. I've got no
doubt that will occur from time to time. I think it's important
for me to have some place where I can go which is quiet and
out of the way to be with the family occasionally.
Question How important is tourism to country areas, as an industry?
Prime Minister
I think it's very important. One of the things which made
a number of local communities look to tourism much more was
the fall-off in rural fortunes and rural profitability in
farms. Many people in country towns came to understand that
if their only livelihood was going to be servicing dairy
industry, or the wool industry or the beef industry, then they
could be having an unpredictable future. So a lot of people / 2
BELCONNEN MALL, A. B. C. INTERVIEW 2-
Prime Minister: ( continued)
with foresight, and Councillor Brophy from Port Fairy is
one who has been right in the fore of this movement, thought
" that's just not good enough, we've got to build up our own
future. Our town's got its own heart" and Port Fairy,
Warrnambool, Portland and other towns in Western Victoria
have really done just that. They are delightful places to
go for a holiday, to take your family, and to get a way from
it all for a while. 000---