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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (22 August) . . Page.. 3188 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

I am angry that he singles us out as a group for this kind of treatment. It is exceptional, appalling, unnecessary and stupid. Mr Humphries-

Mr Humphries: You rang?

MR HARGREAVES: I am not addressing you, Mr Humphries. I am talking about you, not to you.

Mr Humphries: I do apologise.

MR HARGREAVES: I accept Mr Humphries' apology. This is the first time, and possibly the last, in my time in the chamber that he has apologised, and I will savour it.

Mr Deputy Speaker, there has to be a sense of proportion. For Mr Humphries' information, the Tuggeranong Valley Rugby Union and Amateur Sports Club, which I suppose is the biggest group in the ACT, has so far supported one member in this chamber-but, I might say, nobody from the Labor Party. Mr Humphries said that two of their four clubs are open 24 hours a day and they spend $3.40 or 2.4 per cent a machine. Great figures-$87,000 for the whole of the ACT. What a great idea! Mr Humphries said that, if they are running at a loss, why should they stay open? It is their decision.

If Mr Rugendyke thinks that by closing these clubs for particular hours he is going to scratch the surface of problem gambling then I have got news for him. When I was down at Lanyon marketplace a couple of weeks ago a chap came up to me to talk about this legislation. This unfortunate man, whose wife gambles away all of her salary, had to try to feed and clothe his children. Imagine the distress that whole family goes through. This man was nearly in tears when he was talking to me. I said to him, "What can people do about it? Will closing the clubs for this number of hours make a difference?" He said, "No." What he said to me was almost a repeat of what Mr Kaine said by way of interjection. Mr Kaine said, "Why don't you close it between 5 and 8 of a night; why don't you do that?" That is what this bloke said to me down at the Lanyon marketplace.

Believe it or not, Mr Deputy Speaker, people miss a member of their family if they are not around at 3 o'clock in the morning. They know that they are missing and they wonder where they are. All sorts of excuses have come up for not adopting the period between 5 and 10. If we decided to do that there would be a scream that could be heard from here to Majorca.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the inference that the Labor Party does not care about people with problem gambling is also insulting. Of course we do. We do not want to see it any more than anyone else does. We want to see some more action.

Mr Rugendyke seems to think that we are a bunch of fiends because we oppose his legislation. Where is the extra dough for Lifeline in this budget? Where are the specific programs to tackle this problem gambling? Where is the assistance for that bloke down

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