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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 2988 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

My amendments allow contributions to community organisations or sporting organisations endorsed by a licensed club to be included when measuring the performance of the club industry under this legislation. They delete reference to an organisation declared by the Minister, because if the Minister refused to declare an organisation this Assembly would have no control over that decision. That is the very point I make, and that is the very point that Michael Moore deliberately avoids. I would urge the Greens not to support the legislation in its current form, but to support my amendments. They are much fairer.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (8.09): I wish to correct a couple of comments that Mr Berry made. There is nothing in this legislation to stop clubs from having the cheapest meals, the cheapest function facilities, the schmickiest accommodation at the coast for their members, if that is what they choose to do. What it stops the clubs from doing is recording that as a charitable contribution. I do not think many of us would believe that having schmicky accommodation at the coast for the benefit of a few members was necessarily a contribution to the ACT community. I would not. I think offering facilities at the coast is a nice way for some clubs to get more members, but I do not believe it contributes to the Canberra community. There is absolutely nothing to stop a club from having any amount of benefits for their members to encourage new members to come on board. In fact, we encourage clubs to market appropriately; but to accept that putting dollars into marketing the club through cheap meals, schmicky accommodation at the coast and all of those sorts of things is a contribution to the community is a tiny bit hard to wear for all the charities and junior sporting clubs that often need a hand.

At the moment we are giving clubs an enormous benefit via legislation in this place. We are giving them a very special tax rate for their poker machines, a rate significantly less than that in New South Wales. We are giving them a monopoly on a very lucrative part of their business. On that basis we need on the table information to show that they are contributing to the benefit of the community. If the clubs can show that, then we can maintain our current position. I believe most clubs will be able to show that. Mr Berry said that this legislation will take benefits away from members. It will not. Clubs can spend money however they want to spend money, but they cannot say that having cheap function facilities so that they can compete more ably with the private sector is necessarily a benefit to the community. I do not think it is. I think it is probably a very sensible marketing approach, but I am not sure that having cheap function facilities that undercut the private sector is something that we should be suggesting to a club has a demonstrated community value. It is a very good marketing tool, and the club should be allowed to do it.

I come back to the bottom line. There is nothing to stop a club from putting as much money as they want into membership benefits to encourage more members and to keep the members they have. However, I believe the information they will give the Assembly about their contribution to the community should be based on donations to sporting clubs, charities and organisations that are for the benefit of the community or a part of the community. There is nothing to stop clubs from spending money in any way they want, but what I am interested in and I hope the Assembly is interested in is what the clubs are doing for the community. I am sure they are doing a wonderful job for their members.

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