Page129 - Week 01 - Thursday, 3 December 2020

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(b) an investment of over $150 million in local sporting teams and sporting infrastructure since 2000;

(d) that clubs maintain and operate the vast majority of the ACT’s sport and recreational infrastructure; and

(e) the support clubs provide to more than 1,000 community and sporting groups;

(2) further notes that the ACT’s community clubs have been heavily impacted by a combination of legislative change, government rates and charges and more recently by the COVID pandemic as evidenced by:

(a) the closure of seven clubs in the last five years; and

(b) a reduction of gross gaming revenue in the last financial year of $40 million with the likelihood of further reductions in the current financial year;

(3) further notes that in his response to the Neville Stevens AO Report in 2018, the then Minister committed to a moratorium on machine reductions for five years; and

(4) calls on the Government to:

(a) protect the jobs of those 1,700 plus club staff by not legislating or taking any other action that would deter or impair clubs’ ability to hold onto these;

(b) implement the Minister’s stated commitment to a moratorium on machine reductions and regulatory change until 2024;

(d) make the necessary adjustments to allow clubs to diversify to other revenue sources;

(e) conduct an urgent review into water costs for those clubs maintaining sporting infrastructure; and

(f) report back to the Assembly on progress on each of these commitments no later than 24 June 2021.

Firstly, can I say genuine congratulations to everyone who was elected in October. Good on you. You have campaigned hard. You have taken your message to the electorate. They bought it and here you are. It is good. This is called democracy and it is a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing and I think that we all have to respect it. I think we would all agree, would we not, as opposed to, say, President Trump, that we can all respect the will of the people?

There are three parties represented in this chamber. Two of those parties went to an election six weeks ago promising a moratorium in the clubs space: the moratorium on machine reduction for our clubs and the moratorium on regulatory and tax change in the gaming space. One party, the party that secured 14 per cent of the primary vote, had a different view. I do not fully understand how it is that somehow we are going to implement the policies of that view, the policies of that minor party, to absolutely

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