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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 3668 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

fund Lifeline's services, and that's what this amendment is all about, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a silly amendment and I urge members to reject it.

MR HARGREAVES (5.16): I am not going to speak for very long on this but, from listening to the debate, a lot of the attention has been focused on the large clubs, the Tradies, the Labor Club, the Southern Cross Club, and even the Canberra Club, I suppose, and places like that. I would like to put a perspective of what it would be like for the smaller clubs. I belong to the Buffaloes Club down at Tuggeranong and I'm very proud of it. It is a very small club and they have something like 50 poker machines. I think the minister across the chamber has been there. It is not very large. In supporting their teams they have to struggle against the iron - fisted hierarchy of rugby league quite a lot, trying to promote their game for their youngsters, and they are on an absolute shoestring. I'm sure Mr Osborne would know the shoestring that I talk about when I talk about the Buffaloes Leagues Club.

Mr Osborne: Some have no patrons.

MR HARGREAVES: That's right, and I am happy to declare that I am one of the patrons of the club.

Mr Osborne: Who is the other one?

MR HARGREAVES: Other patrons can speak for themselves. The point I make is that in addition to providing the facilities for their members, and they struggle to do that, they also provide a number of facilities for people who are not really their members I suppose, the members of their football team. They give them job - creation programs. They have apprenticeship schemes within the kitchen, which is leased out. They are very firm about making sure there are job opportunities in that club. They have an old boys network, made up of members, which provides physical services to people who are aged and infirm in our community. These members provide their time free, but the club, out of the club's profits, provides materials such as paint, fence palings and those sorts of things for people who just cannot look after themselves.

I want to put in a bid on behalf of the small clubs. As the Chief Minister has said, the Labor Club, the Tradies group, and I suspect the Hellenic Club, the Southern Cross Club and places like that, can do this without blinking, but a lot of these smaller clubs cannot. We have to be careful here that in the headlong rush to try to single out some of the larger clubs to contribute lots and lots of money we do not send a lot of these smaller clubs to the wall and see their community service, which is genuine and general, disappear overnight. So I would urge the chamber to support Mr Quinlan's amendment.

MS TUCKER (5.19): I will speak briefly to this amendment. We did have some concerns about subparagraph 60A (a) as well because there was some concern expressed by some of the clubs that it would rule out small activities within the clubs. An example that was given was a bowling club that was not viable which would therefore be seen to be entertainment for members. I have seen the draft guidelines that Mr Humphries has circulated and I think that concern probably is being addressed. I will not support this amendment at this time, but I repeat that I am quite prepared to revisit this whole piece of legislation if that is necessary later.

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