Page 2928 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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My directorate wrote to clubs and community stakeholders on 17 July, and the formal submission period closed last Monday. We are consulting in a way that is transparent and can leave our constituents in no doubt about what evidence we are relying on and who is making representations to us. We are adding these submissions to the recent reports that the government has already received from the Auditor-General and others.
The Canberra Liberals are seeking to hijack that consultation and suggest that they are working for community groups. The reality is that they are not; they are scaremongering in order to advance their agenda of maximising poker machine profits. Instead of promoting engagement and trying to find ways of enhancing their funding, Mr Parton has been suggesting to a wide range of groups, including seniors groups, that the government is going to ban them from using function rooms. This is simply not true, and it would seem simply to be the negative, shock-jock behaviour of the kind that Mr Parton just cannot manage to leave behind.
My message to the community groups in the ACT, those who have been supported by contributions in the past, as well as those who have not been and may want to be, is that this government is determined to maximise community benefits through the scheme. We will not, unlike the Canberra Liberals, ignore the evidence. We will not, unlike the Canberra Liberals, avoid the findings of reports which make it clear that the scheme should be improved. We will not, unlike the Canberra Liberals both do and suggest we should, close our eyes and our minds to the very intent of the scheme.
We know that we have the support of many in the clubs industry who have acknowledged that that scheme could be better. That is fundamentally what this review is about: our community clubs and their relationship with the people and organisations who benefit so well from their presence.
Our clubs operate gaming machines under a social licence. Our community gives them a privilege in exchange for ensuring that money from the gaming industry serves the community, the whole community. The government’s review will help us maximise the benefits to those who need it most and it will help us and help the clubs to be more transparent in delivering those benefits.
The amendment to this motion circulated in my name sets the record straight. The amendment articulates a clear, transparent and unambiguous factual basis for conducting the review. And, in passing the motion, as amended, we will be rejecting Liberal scaremongering as a basis for policy. We are sending a message to the community groups who rely on the community contributions scheme. This government will deliver reforms that ensure that the benefit to the community is maximised and that you are supported.
Finally, Madam Speaker, I say, through you, to our community clubs, as we have for this entire term: we will continue to support you to be sustainable, to be diverse and to carry out the purposes for which you were established. I commend the amendment to the Assembly.
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