Page 6219 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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turnover as soon as the casino has been established here for some short time. That means that there are going to be social problems associated with an increase in gambling in the Canberra district and in Canberra City.
In that regard I, for one, wholeheartedly support the calls that Dr Kinloch has made in the past, and will continue to make, I dare say, in the future; that the Government use some of the resources that are going to accrue to the ACT coffers from the establishment of this casino and, as I see it, from increased gambling revenues across the board, and look seriously, as was recommended by the committee in 1989, at allocating funds and resources to caring, first of all, for those members of our society who, through no fault of their own, are going to find themselves compulsive gamblers. Whilst we feel sympathy for them, the persons that we really feel sympathy for, given the fact that most of those people unfortunately are males and are breadwinners, if you look at the statistics, are the innocent victims of that, namely, their spouses and families and children.
I think it is up to the Government, in announcing what it is going to do with the revenues from this casino, to put in place, before the problem has reared its ugly head, provisions to establish a safety net to catch those people who are undoubtedly going to be hurt by this proposal. It is not all roses; there are going to be some negative social impacts as a result of the establishment of a casino. People who suggest that there are not going to be are simply fooling themselves.
I believe that I have already asked a question in question time of the Chief Minister about this matter. I would like the Government to make clear what it plans to do, first of all, with the premium from the establishment of the casino, the $19m-odd.
Mr Berry: Community facilities.
MR DUBY: It is going to go into community facilities. I do not regard "community facilities" as an adequate enough answer. "Community facilities" can mean anything. "Community facilities" can, for example, mean the provision of a swimming pool in the Tuggeranong district. Do not forget that I have had a little bit of experience with our people at ACT Treasury as well. You would be surprised at how the definition of "community facilities" will be expanded to take into account facilities which normally would be budgeted for in a normal budget environment. The original proposal, of course, was that they should be cultural facilities, not community facilities at all. Somehow "cultural" has now become "community" and I have grave concerns about that. Nevertheless, that is something for the Government to spell out loud and clear.
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