Page 1923 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 6 June 2017
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We will work with the industry and particularly with the new body that is being established out of the wreckage and the joke that is ClubsACT. We will work with the new body to implement our policies.
Chief Minister, why are you excluding ClubsACT, the body representing the vast majority of clubs in the territory, from engaging with the government?
MR BARR: Yes, I did indicate the government’s intention to work with the new Canberra community clubs body in relation to the implementation of the various reforms that we took to the 2016 election. I also impart that we will be seeking to implement those policies as soon as possible. Members will be aware that a number of those election commitments are contained within the budget papers that we are about to formally release.
The government will engage with clubs in the new group and clubs who sit outside either group, and we can engage, given the small number of clubs, with other clubs in the city. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that, given that the clubs that are represented by ClubsACT number a handful, the government can engage with them. But, as a peak body, ClubsACT has no credibility.
MR PARTON: Chief Minister, will clubs then be forced to join Canberra Community Clubs to ensure that they can participate in a dialogue with the government under the umbrella of a peak body?
MR BARR: No. The government, as I said, can engage with clubs on an individual basis and clubs on a collective basis. But there is no doubt that the peak body known as ClubsACT has significant policy differences with the government. So engaging in the implementation of our policy agenda with an organisation that (a) has no credibility and (b) is opposed to the government’s agenda is not going to be productive. However, we will engage with all in the clubs sector. As I say, it will be very straightforward for the government to do so in a direct manner.
MS LEE: Chief Minister, how will you effectively engage with the clubs that come under the umbrella of ClubsACT if, as you claim, ClubsACT no longer has credibility as a peak body?
MR BARR: I would refer the member to my previous two answers, but I would observe that there is not a lot to engage on. We are going to implement our policies. The policies that we took to the election are not up for debate. We took them to the election and we received a mandate to implement those policies. Even the shadow gaming minister acknowledged that it was a big issue in the campaign. People had a very clear choice. ClubsACT sided very firmly with your side of politics against the government’s agenda—
Mr Wall: That is their democratic right.
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