Page 1065 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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you meet with them on a reasonably regular basis. You cannot meet with every individual in the community, unfortunately. It would be wonderful if we could. But you should look to meet with as many as you can and with key stakeholders. That is why we have the key stakeholders, because they represent a whole bunch of other people. They represent people in the industry who do not have a voice. So they, as key stakeholders, should be taken seriously. They, as key stakeholders, should be treated with some respect. And that has not happened here.
We saw the comments from Peter Stubbs in the press release that was put out. I had the opportunity to meet with Peter Stubbs last week and to go out and to have a look at some of what they are doing and I commend him on his work. But it is worth looking at what they had to say and the way that they feel they have been treated. They quoted Andrew Barr’s press release of 8 December where he said:
The future of the ACT racing industry is more secure after the ACT Legislative Assembly passed a Labor bill which will see the local industry earn up to $1.5 million from interstate betting organisations.
He said:
We have based our legislation on what’s currently working best in other states and territories …
And it went on. What he did not say was that he was slashing the traditional funding model by $1.5 million. What he did not say was that in other states the traditional funding models have been maintained.
This is about integrity. This is about honour and what we have was a statement from the minister that was saying one thing whilst delivering something completely different. And that is part of the reason why the industry are up in arms. It is a big thing for an industry to take on a government publicly, and it takes some courage. They do not do it lightly because we know there are that many bullies in this government. We saw it again today with the Chief Minister’s ranting press release about the Property Council. Anyone who dares criticise the government will get personally attacked, will get smeared. We see the smear that comes out of the mouth of this minister virtually every time he gets up in this place; the cowardly attacks that we have seen this afternoon.
But it does take courage to actually, as an industry, say, “Well, no, we believe you are wrong,” and to publicly say so. It seems that the punishment for that is that he is not going to meet with them. He was not meeting with them before. He had not met with them since April. Key stakeholders in this portfolio: he had not met with them since April. And then they ask again on 24 February 2010: “ACT racing industry is prepared to work towards a sensible solution if given the opportunity and awaits ministerial discussions.”
At the very least, the minister should meet with the industry—not have cocktails and say g’day—hear their concerns and have a negotiation. That is what this motion is about. That is why we will not be supporting this amendment which essentially will achieve nothing, which essentially waters it down to the extent that it is meaningless.
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