Page 4746 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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Work Safety Council (Employer Representative) Appointment 2009 (No 1)—Disallowable Instrument DI2009-220 (LR, 19 October 2009).
Work Safety Regulation 2009, including a regulatory impact statement—Subordinate Law SL2009-45 (LR, 24 September 2009).
Gaming Machine Act 2004
Paper and statement by minister
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Gaming Machine Act, pursuant to section 168—Community contributions made by gaming machine licensees—Report by the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission—1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, dated 26 October 2009.
I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.
Leave granted.
MR BARR: The report is a requirement of the Gaming Machine Act 2004 and is made by the Gambling and Racing Commission. The act requires club licensees to make a minimum community contribution of seven per cent of their net gaming machine revenue each financial year. Hotel and tavern gaming machine licensees are not required by the act to make contributions. However, it is compulsory for them to submit a financial report to the commission.
The legislation outlines the broad purposes that a contribution must meet to be approved by the commission as a community contribution. In addition, guidelines in the Gaming Machine Regulation 2004 provide further assistance to the commission and to licensees as to what types of expenditure would be approved as a community contribution.
Gaming machine licensees can make community contributions to the following categories: charitable and social welfare; sport and recreation; non-profit activities; and community infrastructure. In order to encourage contributions to women’s sport and problem gambling issues, the legislation provides an incentive for licensees by allowing them to claim $4 for every $3 actually contributed.
The commission’s report provides information on three main aspects: the extent to which licensees used their revenue to make community contributions, the level of contributions in each reporting category, and legislative compliance by gaming machine licensees.
The commission’s report outlines that the total value of community contributions from clubs in 2008-09 was $13.8 million. This is 14 per cent of net gaming machine revenue, well above the seven per cent minimum contribution level required. There is a slight decrease of 3.8 per cent from the level of contributions made in 2007-08. In 2008-09, the club industry had net gaming machine revenue totalling $98.6 million, a marginal decrease of 1.7 per cent on the previous financial year.
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