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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 3618 ..

MR BERRY: Now that I have totally discredited anything that Michael Moore says on conflict of interest, I will not be shamed by this person into abandoning the licensed clubs of the ACT as a consequence of my membership of a number of clubs in the ACT. One of them happens to be the Labor Club. I am a life member of the Labor Club. My badge number is No 72, so I am an early life member. I am not ashamed at all of the fact that I joined the Labor Club and became an early life member. I saw the Labor Club making a contribution to politics in this place.

Other clubs were formed for various social reasons. I have no shame about that. I will not be ashamed of protecting licensed clubs in this place from the political machinations of the government benches opposite. I promised before the last election, for example, that there would be no change to the arrangements for licensed clubs in the ACT unless they wanted it, and I intend to stick to that promise.

I treat my promises seriously, and I intend to defend them because of the hundreds of thousands of people who benefit from them as members and the thousand of workers who work in licensed clubs, the profits from which go back into the community, to the 160,000 members, or to the $37 million that was collected last year and brought into this place.

I will not walk away from the licensed clubs, even though there is a political agenda, alive and well in this place, to attack the base of the licensed clubs in the ACT - a political agenda amongst the Liberals opposite and their travelling companion Mr Moore. I will not be shamed into walking away from licensed clubs just because I belong to the Labor Club, the Tradies Club, the Belconnen Soccer Club, the West Belconnen Leagues Club and Western District Rugby Union Club. I do not think I am a member of any others, but if I am that is all well and good. I think they make a huge contribution to the community without this politicking around the edges which has been generated by the Liberals opposite. It has been a shameful episode and one that deserves to be stopped dead in its tracks.

Mr Moore: Mr Speaker, I seek to make a personal explanation.

MR SPEAKER: I think we might hear Mr Rugendyke first, if you do not mind.

MR RUGENDYKE (12.04): Mr Speaker, on the whole, I support the main thrust of this bill, which is to require licensed clubs to make mandatory minimum community contributions. In short, the club industry possesses a golden goose in the form of gaming machines. The industry enjoys a massively profitable monopoly, and it is appropriate that measures be adopted to ensure that there is a return to the community for the privilege.

I believe that there are far too many gaming machines in the ACT and that there is immeasurable unnoticed pain in the community because people are pouring too much money into the insidious habit of playing these machines. Members are aware that the Productivity Commission issued a report on poker machines last year. It said that Canberrans spend much more than average on poker machines. The average spending was $470 nationwide, but in Canberra it was $560, the second highest behind New South Wales. I know that I cannot afford to spend $560 a year on gaming machines,

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