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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5185 ..

Mr Corbell: It is called the Canberra Labor Club, you goose.

Mr Quinlan: It is on the front door.

MR SMYTH: Okay, it is the Canberra Labor Club. It does not matter; pick your club-the Tradesmen's Club, the Workers Club-but your only defence is that and there is no sign on any of the machines.

There is no disclosure on the website. I went to the website thinking that it would tell me what they do. There is a history of the Canberra Labor Club but, remembering that disclosure is the safeguard of democracy, this fact is not disclosed in the section on the history of the club. I looked at the membership application, but it is not disclosed on the membership application.

I got to the gaming page of the website thinking, "This is where the safeguard of democracy will appear,"but it does not mention it. It simply says:

The Canberra Labor Club offers members and guests 225 of the latest gaming machines, including major links and jackpots. The Canberra Labor Club offers members the opportunity to participate in the DACOM reward points loyalty program.

No disclosure, Mr Speaker. Then we get to the community contribution.

Mr Corbell: Canberra Labor Club, in lights on the door, flashing lights.

Mr Quinlan: Where is the form for the 250 Club?

MR SMYTH: Yes, all right it is there. It says, "Welcome to the Canberra Labor Club. Community contribution."There is a notable list of 31/2 pages of community contributions made by the Canberra Labor Club. There it is, seven down, the ACT Labor Party. It does not say how much; there is no disclosure of how much these groups are getting. There is no disclosure, yet we had this argument from the guardian of democracy over there, Mr Corbell, that disclosure after the event is a good thing.

I think we should go back to why poker machines were put there and what the community contribution was about. If you did a survey of the members of any club, I think very few of them would think of politicians and political parties as part of the community fabric. The whole point of the community contribution was to build up the community fabric, support sporting clubs, to support women's sport now, and things like that. There is no defence there. I do not believe anything that Mr Corbell has said would prove that disclosure is the safeguard of democracy.

The point is about the ability to choose to support. The people who put the money in the machines are not choosing to support a club. Developers might, private individuals might, industry associations might, but members of a club-the 40,000 members of the Canberra Labor Club-do not make a decision to support that. It is not listed as one of the objectives of the club that I can find.

Mr Quinlan: Going to rip down and get some signs for the casino, are you, Brendan?

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