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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 3602 ..

Mr Stanhope: At the least the clubs that the Chief Minister called bludger clubs - he reckons they are bludging.

MR QUINLAN: He made some derogatory remarks about jacuzzies and jet skis.

Mr Stanhope: He thinks they are all bludging - ripping the community off.

MR QUINLAN: Yes. In closing, I have to say that this town ought to be very proud of its club industry. This government should seek to work with the club industry and not make cheap political points to denigrate this industry.

MS CARNELL (Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts) (10.57): Mr Speaker, listening to Mr Quinlan you may have been tempted to think that we were not debating the Gaming Machine Amendment Bill 2000 but some piece of legislation to close down the club industry, to destroy the whole social fabric of the club industry in the ACT and, of course, that we will see the end of western civilisation as we know it.

I think it is a good idea to have a look what the bill actually seeks to do. The bill requires that clubs make a compulsory community contribution at 5 per cent of the net - not gross - gaming machine revenue, increasing to 7 per cent over a three - year period. We are not talking about 100 per cent of net gaming machine revenue or 100 per cent of gross gaming machine revenue but 5 per cent. Five per cent of net gaming machine revenue - "net" meaning after expenses have been taken off and so on - is not a lot, is it?

Mr Berry: It is not after expenses. You have mislead us. Mr Speaker, I take a point of order. The Chief Minister may have mislead us with that remark.

MS CARNELL: I am not the Chief Minister, and if he did he is not here.

Mr Berry: Sorry, the former disgraced Chief Minister may have mislead us when she said it was after expenses. It does not include all expenses - only the expenses that you have arbitrarily determined.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, that is not a point of order.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, 5 per cent of net gaming machine revenue is not a lot.

Why is this legislation in place at all? It is now before us because members of this Assembly have chosen to ensure that the club industry has a monopoly on gaming machines in this city. We decided to do this because the club industry said categorically that they are operating in the broad community interest and therefore the profits from gaming machines go back to the community. That is a fine statement; it is one that we would all support emphatically.

What is so wrong then with a piece of legislation that suggests a contribution of 5 per cent of net gaming machine revenue - not net profit of the whole of an organisation, because they have lots of other parts of their operations? The bill provides that such community contributions must have the effect of contributing to, developing or

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