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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 3686 ..

Motion (by Mr Moore ) agreed to:

MR SPEAKER: Mr Quinlan, do you have anything to add?

MR QUINLAN (8.03): You will recall, Mr Speaker, that before the dinner break we were looking for clarification. I have to say that I have had some clarification from the office of the Chief Minister, which leaves me with considerable disquiet.

Opposition members interjecting -

MR SPEAKER: Proceed, Mr Quinlan.

MR QUINLAN: I have to say that it leaves me with some disquiet because effectively what is happening is that the sporting clubs which part - pay any of their players, pay coaches, or spend any funds that, in fact, go into participants' pockets, will be excluded. We have now reached the point that a community contribution does not include the middle grades of sport across the ACT. I am happy to be corrected on this, but the middle levels of sport in the ACT, those groups that feed into the Brumbies or the Raiders at the local level, are not be considered part of the community.

Somehow we have this government that can spend millions and millions of dollars of taxpayers' funds to facilitate the operation of the Brumbies and the Raiders. We can see the government actually spending just specific grants for training facilities for those elite teams. We have seen the government both bail out the Canberra Cannons and facilitate the bailing out of the Canberra Cannons to fund the Cosmos, and other elite sports in the ACT, and I am glad we have that elite representation.

But below that we have the great bulk of grade sport in the ACT, which is operated by clubs. Some of the people involved in that grade sport do get paid - very little I have to say, though Ainslie Football Club has just recruited a couple of stars and I suppose that they are being fairly well paid. But what the Ainslie Football Club is doing in terms of providing that stepping stone in the structure of sport in the ACT is not to be recognised as any contribution to the community.

Mr Humphries: No, that is not true.

MR QUINLAN: Good, because a member of staff in your office told me that they were to be excluded.

Mr Humphries: No, that is not what she said.

MR QUINLAN: About an hour or so ago.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The matter can be resolved in debate.

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