Page 1895 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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opposing this bill today. However, we will certainly be keeping a very close eye on how all of this plays out over the next few months.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (6.39): The Greens will support this bill to establish a diversification support fund for clubs, in line with the recommendations of the Stevens report, ACT club industry diversification support analysis. We believe that we must act to limit gambling harm in our community. I have made that point a number of times. Certainly, many clubs recognise the need to diversify away from gaming machine revenue, which we believe is an unsustainable and unreliable reliance on poker machines.
A number of clubs have already started this process. But we acknowledge that for some clubs, particularly small and medium clubs, their ability to diversify may be limited by a range of factors, including size, financial position, location and land holdings, as Mr Stevens noted in his analysis. The establishment of a diversification support fund through this bill will provide additional support to clubs to invest in training and new initiatives and enable them to tailor their response to the unique circumstances of each club. While it is not government’s role to dictate what diversification should look like for each club, government should be there, where possible, to support the sector during this transition.
This is a time of significant change for community clubs in the territory, but it is an important change that we must work through together. For too long now Canberra has had some of the highest rates of pokies per capita across all states and territories. The machines are addictive and manipulative. They are designed that way so that people lose money. The damage they are inflicting upon families and our community is real, and we can act to prevent this.
Over recent months it has been pleasing to see the clubs sector engaging in the voluntary surrender process. This has gone a long way towards getting us down to 4,000 machines in the ACT, in line with the parliamentary agreement commitment.
Mr Parton: What’s your target for 2020?
MR RATTENBURY: I will get to that. The Greens appreciate that for some clubs this has meant a significant change in their business models. That is why we support the establishment of this fund. In line with Mr Stevens’s recommendations, contributions to the fund will be set at $20 a month for the first 99 authorisations held in each venue and $30 a month for every subsequent authorisation.
The government will also be matching contributions, giving clubs a sufficient pool of capital they can draw on to fund diversification initiatives. Basing the contributions on the number of authorisations, rather than the number of machines on the floor, provides an important incentive for clubs to surrender authorisations that are not being utilised.
The Greens are committed to gradually reducing the number of poker machines in the ACT so that the number of machines per capita is no greater than the national average. We still have some way to go to reach this level; so these kinds of incentives are
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