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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 4 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 1014 ..

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (1.11 am): Mr Speaker, if a Minister misleads this house they lose their position in the house. I wonder whether the same would be true of a committee chair. Maybe that is something that we ought to look at, because committee chairs, and any other member, have to be particularly careful to be accurate in the information they give. During the in-principle stage of the debate I raised the issue that proposed section 23C paragraph (c), read in its context, just does not make sense. I went on further to ask questions about it. Ms Tucker said that the matter was explained in the explanatory memorandum and in the report. That is not true. The issue of "the corporate and financial relationships with an existing club" could be taken in the sense of however you read that paragraph. The closest that anything could come to it is in paragraph 4.4 of the report. Under the heading "Criteria for exercise of Commissioner's discretion", it states:

The committee is aware that a number of club groups operate under the same body corporate and it is concerned to ensure that these, mainly large, clubs should not be able to access additional machines by setting up new associated clubs.

That does not explain "the corporate and financial relationships with an existing club", which is a meaningless phrase anyway. The explanatory memorandum on proposed section 23C says:

The Commissioner should be satisfied that the application is not from an existing club that is seeking to access additional machines by establishing a new associated club.

It is really pushing it to a large extent indeed to suggest that that is the case. I am not suggesting for one minute that Ms Tucker deliberately misled. It is the issue of deliberately misleading that we would be concerned about. But what I am saying is that we have to be particularly careful - - -

Mr Berry: Or recklessly.

MR MOORE: Mr Berry interjects, "Or recklessly". Indeed. That is something that we have to be particularly careful of. Mr Speaker, what we have is a piece of legislation with amendments moved, and I am saying to you that I simply have not had enough time to properly consider these matters; I simply have not had enough time to consult on these matters to see how they will affect other people and how this particular piece of legislation will affect people. I think it is appalling that members are prepared to push it through when there are still significant doubts about this particular piece of legislation.

Amendments agreed to.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (1.14 am): Mr Speaker, it seems to me that this legislation is appalling; it seems to me that it will not work. This is not because I oppose a cap. I do not oppose a cap. Contrary to what Mr Kaine has said, I have made a number of public statements to that effect, before the election and at other times. I am not opposed to a cap. In fact, I think a cap is a good idea.

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