Page 3587 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 27 October 2015
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grassed areas; that the government support clubs who invest in water security; and that it may extend subsidies for water use by community groups to recycled use. So water is a big issue and it is important that it is dealt with.
I hope that Mr Hargreaves is paying attention. When he was in the Assembly he was known for not paying attention, and he is doing it now in the gallery. He is claiming a hearing impairment—Ms Lawder has an amendment to the standing orders to allow Auslan to be used here in the Assembly. Rec 36, the John Hargreaves memorial recommendation, says:
The Committee recommends that the Government work with the clubs sector to assist with the provision of a variety of recreational activities to meet the needs of the community, such as billiard tables, table tennis tables, darts and carpet bowls.
Mr Hargreaves and his crew from the ACT Billiards and Snooker Association provided one of the more entertaining moments of the public hearings.
Recommendations 37 and 38 look at cross-border issues. The committee recommends that the government do a study into cross-border leakage. The implications there are not just financial. The implications are that if our laws are tougher and people are going to venues where the legislation is more relaxed than ours then we are leaving them at risk. Again we ask that the government report on that.
As I said, recs 39 and 40 are about live music. Recs 41 and 42 look at the government’s own phases of reform. Rec 41 says:
The Committee recommends that Phase One of the Government’s Clubs reform package be no shorter than three years.
Clubs want certainty and stability, and they do not want hanging over their head the possibility that it could all be changed with six months notice. That is not how you get reform, and it is about time we acknowledged that. Rec 42 says:
The Committee recommends that the Government give no less than twelve months notice of their intention to move to Phase Two of their Club’s Reform Package.
Rec 43 says we need to take into account the size of some of the clubs—the small and the medium—when we place regulation and financial burdens on them. Rec 44 is about removing red tape. Recommendation 45 says:
The Committee recommends that the Government undertake an assessment of the contribution of clubs to the ACT community.
We know that the clubs employ; we know that the clubs pay, for instance, large water and electricity bills, but it is about the knock-on effect on the community, where they support the butchers, the bakers, the greengrocers and all of those sorts of small businesses. Also it is about the wellbeing of people. They provide safe places where
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