Page 3866 - Week 10 - Thursday, 27 August 2009
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Corporations Law and the tax law to the federal Attorney-General, then I think it just raises more doubt about the sincerity of the Treasurer to get to the bottom of this.
To me, the most important thing is part (d):
whether the sale of licensed clubs for profit would undermine the community gaming model and is in keeping with the spirit of the Gaming Act;
I have been approached by a number of members of the Labor club who have said, “We are not happy; we do not want the club sold.” It was never designed to be sold; it was never set up to be sold; it was never set up to take a profit.
Ms Gallagher: You wanted it sold.
MR SMYTH: No, I have never said, “Sell it.” I said, “Don’t take the profits of problem gambling and gambling and fund your political campaigns and your political office out of it.” That is what I have said. You go back and check. That is what we said.
We have had numerous motions in this place. We actually moved to stop donations to political parties being portrayed as community contributions. It did not get up. At one stage, for every dollar that went to a political party, an extra dollar had to go to a community organisation because the Assembly acknowledged that these were put in place for the benefit of the community. But the Labor Party refuses to acknowledge that. We now see from the Chief Minister his acknowledgement that there is a conflict here, after all these years. Implicit in this is the acknowledgement that there is a conflict of interest here. That is why the clubs are being divested by the ALP.
In doing that, does it attack the community gaming model? Many concerns have been raised about where the money goes. From the profits of poker machines, there is a community contribution. But from the profits of the sale, the money is all going into the coffers of the Labor Party. There are many in the community who are doubting this and questioning this and wondering why the Labor Party gets to make a windfall from what is a gift of the community. This money should go back to the community.
I suggested that the committee report by the first sitting week in 2010 because that would give adequate time for the commission to report; it would give adequate time if somebody in the government refers the other two important potential breaches of Corporations Law and tax law to the federal Attorney-General. But by the sound of it, that is not going to happen,
The Treasurer has just washed her hands of it. She said, “I have done my bit. I have sent the letter I got to the commission, the commission under my portfolio, the commission in my purview. I have done my bit but I am not going to risk sending the same letter to the person who administers the tax act and the person who administers the corporations act.” You can only ask yourself why the Treasurer would not do that.
This is an important issue. This government has put our clubs under enormous pressure through increased taxation. You have got a government that is addicted to taxes from gaming machines. They have raised the tax level to raise the revenue to
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