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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (25 November) . . Page.. 3705 ..

Mr Stanhope: Did you say you cannot remember whom you are appointing?

MR SPEAKER: Order! It is not your question, Mr Stanhope.

MR HUMPHRIES: Well, I am sorry; I cannot remember offhand who the two people are. Actually, I can remember one of them, I beg your pardon. Ms Lyn Morgain is one of the two appointees. I forget the name of the other person. That is not a reflection on the other person, Mr Speaker. With respect, with all due modesty, I think they are both excellent appointments. Those two appointments, assuming they are approved by the relevant standing committee, will constitute the commission legally from 1 December, and the Government hopes shortly thereafter to be able to appoint two other members to make up the membership of the commission.

MR KAINE: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Two out of five. You have a long way to go. Will the Minister confirm that these two members out of the five that are prescribed by law will not be empowered to make significant decisions which will be binding on the gambling and racing industry and which will be binding on the entire board of five if and when the Government gets around to appointing the other three members? I think it would be rather odd to have these two people making binding decisions for the future.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I should say that there will also be an acting chief executive officer who will fulfil a short-term role there until a permanent appointment can be made. That person, as I understand it, will make up the three people necessary for a quorum so that it will be able to meet and make decisions. I would not expect that the Gambling and Racing Commission would need to make any extensive decisions that would bind other members for a few weeks, which I expect would be all the time it would take to fill the other appointments, Mr Speaker, but it is not unusual. It is a question of making sure we fill those positions as the right people come to the Government's attention. I hope that there will be a very good brace of appointees to that commission, and I am confident that the two we have nominated so far indicate that that will be the case.

MR QUINLAN: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Treasurer. In a media release issued today the Treasurer referred to concerns regarding the transfer of a sports betting licence from Canbet and Capital Sports to prospective new owners. Will the Treasurer tell the Assembly what those concerns are?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I think Mr Quinlan is as able as I am to read the Canberra Times and be aware of what criticisms are being made of these proposed appointments.

Mr Quinlan: No, it is not in the Canberra Times.

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