Page 2645 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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These funds have been quarantined …
They have put aside some money. They have actually made allowance for the future because they looked at this government and they knew what they were like, and the treasurer, Stephen Johnston, says:
These funds have been quarantined to cover capital expenditure and the impact of a 17% increase in gaming machine taxation from 1 July 2007.”
But the interesting thing, Mr Speaker, is: what do all three gentlemen say is the solution to the dilemma that they face? Well, I will tell you, and it is something the Chief Minister has not learnt about the ACT economy. Jim Shonk says, “We must diversify our income base.” What does Peter Webb say? He says the same. What does the treasurer of the club say? He says:
As such, we can no longer rely on income generated from gaming to fund our club and community activities. As an organisation, we are … conscious of the need to diversify away our income stream risk and at the same time drive the club as hard as possible to ensure our objectives.
So these are gentlemen who understand their responsibility to the community; they understand what they have to do. They have contributed to things like Clublink, but they have been let down by their rapacious government, a rapacious and ill-advised government.
Mr Speaker, it is interesting the Chief Minister chooses to leave the room while we speak again about his activities. But the problem here is that the person who put this on the agenda is his leader. What did the Chief Minister do? He refuted his leader—Kevin Rudd was wrong. Now, the problem for both Kevin Rudd and Jon Stanhope is that they must tell us what they will do to solve this dilemma. What I simply said was that if Kevin Rudd is serious about weaning the states off pokie revenue, then the easiest place to start was not to wait until whether or not you are going to win an election but to start today, set a concrete example.
Tell the ACT Labor Club and the Tradies Club to stop giving money to political parties and start putting it back into charity where it belongs. Put it back into the community, put it back into the welfare sector, put it back into sport, into disability and into the multicultural community. Put it back into women’s groups, men’s groups and young groups. Let us put it back in and build up a society, rather than just funding a political party and their activities on this and rather than seeing the ACT Labor Party’s reliance on problem gamblers.
Mr Speaker, it is very, very important that we understand the depth of what happens to those that have a problem, but what we need is concrete action, not crocodile tears and platitudes from a Chief Minister who simply does not truly care.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (4.19): As we have heard today, the licensed club industry provides significant contributions to our community through sporting and social clubs, including ethnic and multicultural clubs. We have also heard how the club sector adds immeasurably to the unique quality of the life we enjoy in Canberra.
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