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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1556 ..

MR QUINLAN (11.02): The opposition would like to debate this bill today. On behalf of the opposition, I would like to make it clear that in no way should this be construed as support for the GST in any shape or form. However, there are practical realities which require arrangements to be made, given that the GST is with us. This bill takes care of the implementation of the GST, with one minor wrinkle. That wrinkle has been worked out to ensure that the very small clubs in the ACT do no go under because of the GST.

I have to congratulate the government, its administrators and the club industry on working out the deal. The club industry did not have a lot of room to move at the end of the day, but we now have an arrangement whereby the GST impact on gambling revenue will not go as far as wiping out a number of small clubs that support a particular ethnic group and provide to their members a little touch of home so they can enjoy their dual citizenship, which we also support. The opposition is quite happy with the passage of this bill.

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (11.04), in reply: Mr Speaker, I thank the opposition for its support for this bill It is important that we put in place some measures to mitigate consequences of the GST which certain organisations within the community would be unprepared for. This is one example of an unforeseen consequence of having states evacuate their tax regime on forms of gambling to the degree that it allows the GST to replace it and not impose a higher burden on any particular organisation than it currently experiences.

I acknowledge the point made by Mr Quinlan that passing this bill is not an endorsement of the GST, but it is certainly an attempt to prevent consequences of the GST being overly onerous on particular organisations within our community. I am very pleased with the responsible approach taken by ACT clubs to suggest this mechanism whereby small clubs should be relieved of some of the pressure which would otherwise come down on them with the imposition of a GST at the expense not of the taxpayer but of larger clubs. It is a very positive gesture on the part of those larger clubs, and I publicly thank them for that measure of cooperation with, and support for, smaller players within their industry.

It is important that the ACT have a reasonably flexible regime with respect to gambling taxation, because many forms of gambling are quite sensitive to the level of taxation imposed upon them. The government has retained a flexible model in being able to deal with this situation, notwithstanding the fact that a uniform 10 per cent GST is being imposed on the retained profit from gambling operators in the territory and indeed elsewhere in Australia. This arrangement will be subject to review in two years time to ascertain whether it is appropriately operating to protect the industry and to ensure that there is not any loss of revenue to the ACT.

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