Page 4833 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 27 November 2018
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I trust that this exposure draft provides a commitment to the Assembly, to ACT Policing and to the commonwealth government that we are continuing to progress this issue so that the territory’s integrity commission can have oversight of the territory’s own police force.
Gaming Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
Debate resumed from 1 November 2018, on motion by Mr Ramsay:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (12.16): The Canberra Liberals will not be supporting this bill. Everyone from the community clubs sector is watching this with their head in their hands because we are seeing the slow execution of the clubs sector, and this legislation is another blow. We should not expect anything less from Labor’s power-sharing partners, the Greens. The Greens and their base have never understood clubs, they have never understood this sort of community and they certainly have never understood the concept of wagering on anything.
What is most disappointing to me, and to all of those in the community clubs sector, is that this bill and others before it in this space have the signature of a Labor minister on them. Mr Ramsay’s understanding of the gaming space is all one-sided. I am sure he means really well, but he cannot concede that there can be any benefit whatsoever from someone having a punt. Mr Ramsay has never had a bet on anything in his life and he finds it impossible to relate to anyone who does.
Every single piece of legislation that this minister has presented in this space is underpinned by ignorance and revenge. Mr Ramsay has no idea how this space works and he does not ever want to find out, because those evil clubs fought to remove the government in 2016 and, according to Mr Barr and Mr Ramsay, they must be punished; they must be isolated, bullied and punished.
I am dismayed. Like you, Madam Speaker, I live in the Tuggeranong Valley. For the benefit of Mr Barr, Mr Rattenbury and Mr Ramsay, it is a faraway land south of Hindmarsh Drive. We use the same currency as the rest of Canberra. You do not need a passport check to get in there and, by and large, despite quite a few nuanced differences, we speak the same language. I am sure Mr Barr, Mr Ramsay and Mr Rattenbury could understand a Tuggeranong conversation if they happened across a group in the street or in a club—not that they would find themselves in a club.
It is a magical place surrounded by rolling hills. Most of the people live in stand-alone houses on big blocks with these curious clothes drying structures known as Hills hoists in their backyards. If they do not wear hi-vis at work, they all know someone who does. They tend to have a bet on the Melbourne Cup and they can tell you who won Bathurst this year—and, for Mr Ramsay’s benefit, it was Craig Lowndes in a Holden this year.
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