Page 3583 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
acknowledges the significant trauma experienced by affected families and the personal, financial, health and practical challenges it has presented to those affected, now and into the future.
Madam Speaker, I think the government can echo those words as well. We will consider the report and the recommendations made and table a response in the next sitting week in November.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Public Accounts—Standing Committee
Report 18
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (10.36): I present the following report:
Public Accounts—Standing Committee—Report 18—Inquiry into elements impacting on the future of the ACT clubs sector, dated October 2015, including additional comments (Mr Rattenbury) and an addendum to the Report, together with a copy of the extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings.
I move:
That the report be noted.
Madam Speaker, I have done a few committee inquiries in my time and a few reports, and this was perhaps, in terms of degree of difficulty and length of execution, one of the most fascinating reports that have been produced.
There are 46 recommendations in the report. We received 112 submissions, we had six public hearings and we had six private meetings to go through the report. At one stage the committee secretariat produced an A3 sheet of paper with three columns with competing recommendations coming from three sources—and you can all guess what the three different sources were. But we managed to make our way through, and it is with a great deal of pleasure that I table this report today.
The report is very important to the future of the city. I say “the city” before I say “the clubs” because, in an artificial city such as we are, the clubs were started to give community-based infrastructure that did not exist at the time. They have become a very important part of the city and it is very important that we keep it that way. That is why recommendation No 1 of the 46 recommendations—those who have the report will see that it is only numbered to 45 but I will get to the mystery rec in a minute—actually says it is important that the Assembly acknowledge the role that clubs play and the contribution they make to the wellbeing of the people of the ACT. Often we take things for granted, and we should not, because those things can disappear very quickly or change very quickly if we are not wary. We need to say, in the words of the committee, that this Assembly “acknowledge the role that ACT clubs play, and the contribution they make to the wellbeing of the people of the ACT”.
The second set of recommendations looks at leases. If the clubs are to diversify, if the clubs are to survive, it will only occur when they change their business models and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video