Page 3502 - Week 09 - Thursday, 23 August 2018
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I do not mean others in his office. What I mean is: I would love to know how many people from club land the minister has actually had conversations with in recent months other than Athol Chalmers and Rob Docker. I think the numbers would be pretty thin.
I spoke to one club executive earlier in the week, the day after the email went out from the minister’s office detailing the two new taxes and the machine reduction offer. This club executive was quite emotional. He told me that soon after getting that email he called in the accountant, and they started doing the mathematics that night on club closure. I cannot tell you which club that is—it is not for me to make that announcement prematurely—but I can just about guarantee that clubs will close because of what has been announced in the past few days.
Another club executive told me through gritted teeth that they would have to reassess a long-term sporting program. It is not for me to say which sporting program that is, but it is one that everyone in this room will be aware of and it has had far-reaching benefits across our community. The mathematics of sustaining it do not stack up once these new taxes are taken into account.
Mr Ramsay stood in this chamber yesterday and made the claim that there is not a maximum level of community contributions. He said there is nothing to stop the clubs just giving more back to the community. I do not know what planet the minister lives on. I do not know what unicorn-filled utopia he thinks Canberra is. He seems to believe the evil clubs can just keep on finding money to give away. They can just give all their money away: all of their money, they can just give away. They do not have to worry about paying wages. They do not have to worry about paying the electricity bills. They do not have to pay their suppliers. They do not have to pay those exorbitant water fees. They can just give all of their money away.
The minister has never run a business in his life and he does not seem to understand that clubs are not corporations; they are community clubs owned by the community. They give away as much as they can to the community. Just about all of them give back more than the mandated eight per cent. Some of them give away over 30 per cent. The more you tax them, the less that goes back to the community. When you tax them in this way you are robbing the community.
The government’s consultation on community contributions was a joke. Seriously, when you ask a death row inmate about which way he would prefer to be executed, you cannot then come into this chamber and say, “We’re only doing what the prisoner asked for. We’re only doing what they told us. He’s the one who opted for the electric chair. We’re are only fulfilling his wishes.”
I refer to a media release from the minster on 4 June this year where he said:
In the coming week, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate will be in touch with clubs and other key stakeholders about how they can contribute to the review. The broader community will be able to have their say through the Government’s YourSay website.
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