Page 796 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
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possible survive the storm. If clubs fold, they will not reappear; they will be gone forever.
The COVID-19 crisis has made us reassess many things and rethink what is really important. It has made us grow up a bit, but not in every sense. During the briefing that we received on this bill from Mr Ramsay’s office, one of his staff mentioned that they had been run off their feet metaphorically, engaging with so many individual clubs. I am sure it has been a logistical nightmare. If only there was an umbrella organisation. If only there was a peak body that the government, in this time of emergency, could engage with as a one-stop shop for industry feedback.
Of course, there is, and I respectfully say that if ever there was a time for this government to bury the hatchet and recommence consultation with ClubsACT it would be now. I am not trying to score political points. I am not trying to do anything other than encourage behaviour that would be beneficial to everyone in the community. Despite everything that has gone on in the past, maybe it would be helpful to be dealing with the peak body. This is an emergency.
I am hearing some wonderful reports about Danielle Perks in JACS, who has been engaging remarkably well with clubs. I am also hearing about some regulatory change which apparently does not have to come before this chamber. I am hearing that there has been some movement on water charges for clubs. I cannot confirm that; I am hoping the minister can. I am also hearing about an EGM reduction offer being put back on the table and I like the sound of that.
It is pleasing at this time to see the diversification and sustainability money being returned to clubs, although the feedback I am getting is that there are still a lot of hoops to jump through and there is still an exhaustive process go through to get that money. It was portrayed to me that the money would pretty much be going back to the clubs that contributed to the diversification fund, and that is not the story I am getting back from the sector. I know the diversification impost is being removed until April 2021 and I ask for this to be re-examined as we move forward and for that moratorium potentially to be extended at least to 2022.
It is great that emergency relief operations and potentially even the payment of wages can be included as a community contribution, but I ask that clubs be allowed to bank those community contributions for more than one year. They should be given the ability to carry over those community contributions from this period to help enable their very survival. I suggest that they should be able to carry them over to the next financial year and potentially the one after that if they have contributed enough.
As we move forward, one of the other things that must be put on the table is the removal of so-called professional men’s sport being supported under the community contributions scheme. At a time when even the high-level AFL and NRL are under enormous stress, it is absurd that, when we get to the other side of this, so-called professional men’s sport in a tiny city like ours cannot be considered as a community contribution.
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