Page 6221 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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referendum on 15 February will be. It certainly will not be anything like the scenario that I outlined and it will indicate, I think, that the community as a whole accept and indeed support the concept of a casino.
I would also like to put on the record, I suppose, the absolute confidence that I have had in the process that has been entered into over the years in terms of selecting and granting approval to the eventual successful bidder for the casino licence. The efforts by the public servants - I put it on the record - and by Mr Roger Smeed in particular deserve the congratulations of the community at large and this Assembly in particular.
The end result of all that, particularly given the calibre of the final successful bidder, is that no-one will be able to sensibly hold up the argument that somehow casinos are involved with organised crime, that the facility will be used to launder money and to look after big drug deals, et cetera. When you consider that the successful tenderer is partly owned, I believe, by the Government of Austria and I believe also partly owned, if I am not mistaken, by the Catholic Church, any comment that this could possibly be linked with organised crime or anything along those lines is something that can be soundly rebutted.
I support the legislation. I support the establishment of the casino. I have done so since the committee brought down its report back in 1989. I would just caution the Government to take into account those special needs of a social nature that are going to arise in the ACT community. I think it is important that in trying to grasp the gold we do not forget some of the people who, unfortunately, by a quirk of human nature, are going to be left at the wayside. Facilities should be in place before the first dice are rolled at that casino to make sure that those persons are catered for and that their families are looked after.
MR MOORE (4.43): The last time this issue was debated was during a matter of public importance raised by Dr Kinloch in which I chose not to speak because this legislation was coming up and I knew that I would have the opportunity to speak at this point. At that stage there was a series of interjections by Mr Collaery along the lines of "wimp" and "wimping out on your policies", and statements to that effect. In fact, that was followed up by a press release that Mr Collaery put out that further emphasised that point. I was asked to respond to some of the comments made by Mr Collaery in that press release as far as my stance on the casino went.
In fact, I did respond and I responded something along these lines: That I have remained consistent to the policies upon which I was elected. As far as the casino goes, I have been, and I will continue to remain, consistent to the policies upon which I was elected, which
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