Page 2449 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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In the context of Mr Smyth’s call today, I do not think it is necessary to specifically call on the Auditor-General to review the sale process. However, the government has no concerns should the Auditor-General decide to undertake a review. It is up to the Auditor-General to make that decision in the context of the competing priorities for her time. We have no concerns at all should she decide to undertake a review of ACTTAB, but we do not believe that it needs to be specifically referred by the Assembly today. For that reason the amendment that I have moved removes that element of Mr Smyth’s proposal. But if the Auditor-General decides she wants to look at this, we have no concerns about that.
Having said all of that, I commend the amendment, which outlines the benefits of the sale in terms of the $105.5 million achieved, outlines the level of funding that the taxpayer provides to the racing industry, is very clear about the commitments that have been signed up to by Tabcorp in relation to increased sponsorship of the racing industry—so that accounts for more than $3 million over the next decade—and their more than $4 million commitment to ongoing sponsorship of community and sporting organisations in the territory.
This is a major Australian company that is going to be doing more in this community and that is investing significantly in this business. I have said this more than once publicly: you do not acquire an asset like this and invest what they have with a view to running it down. They want to grow this business, and that is good news for the territory economy. We need to attract new capital into our economy, and we have done so through this process. I commend my amendment to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Corrective Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for Sport and Recreation) (12.07): I have previously expressed my support for the sale of ACTTAB, primarily due to my belief that the ACT government should not be in the business of bookmaking operations. I flag my intention to support Minister Barr’s amendment to Mr Smyth’s motion, as I think it enhances the motion put forward by Mr Smyth. But I will come to that in a moment.
Mr Smyth’s motion seeks to raise concerns about the future of the industry. I certainly believe some of Mr Barr’s amendment will go some way to assuaging those industry concerns. Several parts of Mr Barr’s amendment are a simple restating of elements of the sale, such as Tabcorp’s commitment to continue support of local and community sporting clubs. That support is clearly very valuable to a range of organisations, and I welcome the fact that that support continues under the sale agreements.
The commercial sale of ACTTAB was necessarily a confidential affair, as Minister Barr has just outlined. Given the commercial sensitivities and the probity requirements around such a sale, the government issued probity guidelines to ministers and their staff, and appointed a probity adviser to ensure that the highest level of probity was maintained. Given the confidential nature of the transaction, I can understand that people might feel that they do not have enough information about the outcome or the next steps.
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