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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5170 ..

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (9.22): I read out of this that the opposition has given up hope of winning the next election but doesn't really want to be encumbered by this legislation if they win the one after that.

MS DUNDAS (9.22): On Mr Smyth's amendment: I have no major concern with it being put into the legislation. I am impressed that the government thinks they are only going to win one more election, but I think all legislation needs to be continually reviewed. We have just got to flag a way in which to do it in terms of this piece of legislation.

Mr Smyth's amendment agreed to.

Ms Dundas's amendment, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.

Title agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Gaming Machine (Political Donations) Amendment Bill 2003

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (9.24): You might appreciate that we will not be supporting this bill, and I think for reasonably good reason. There may be some hand-wringing and breast-beating and some high principles pervade here; today has been the day for that Mr Speaker. It hasn't been unusual in this particular Assembly, but there certainly has been a lot of high principle expounded here today. But this is not about high principles at all; this is about raw politics.

The bill itself takes me back to the days of Michael Moore in this place and his seething antipathy towards the ALP and towards its successful operation of originally a club and now a group of clubs. There is a touch of deja vu of course about this.

Looking forward to the high principles that will be expounded here, let me say: I think there is one amongst us who might be able to speak from the point of principle, and that would be Ms Tucker who, as coincidence would have it, was the one person that has been maligned in relation to this bill so far.

So let's just take it from the top. I am reminded of a story-and I couldn't actually find it on the net-about Noel Coward and Lady Astor. The punch line was: "We know what you are, Lady Astor; we're just arguing about the price."It was in the context of "we know what you are-

Mr Smyth: George Bernard Shaw, I think.

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