Page 4865 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 27 November 2018
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Before I go any further, I thank my colleague Mark Parton, the shadow minister for gaming and racing, for his fierce advocacy and his ability to turn up the heat. He has really helped to rally and mobilise the community and give clubs a voice. I am also here to help give the thousands of sports and recreation users and groups a voice.
The community contributions scheme provides millions of dollars in support to local sport and recreation—$11 million, in fact. The attack on this contribution has been the largest driver behind public outrage at these changes. During the community consultation the government received hundreds of submissions, websites were established, forums were held, clubs repeatedly invited the government to meet with them, and yet here we are. The government has retained the contribution level at eight per cent, but there is an additional 0.8 per cent tax on top of that, half of which goes to assist problem gambling and half of which goes to the Chief Minister’s charitable fund. This is on top of the 0.75 per cent already paid by clubs towards problem gambling. Tax upon tax upon tax.
Ten clubs have closed in the last decade and you can guarantee that these changes will result in more closures. Added to this, the current exposure draft offers no real certainty under the new scheme. No definition for “professional sport” is provided as yet and there is a real fear about how this will be applied. How will this impact sports facilities maintained by clubs for all Canberrans but played on by professional sports teams? What does this mean for semi-professional athletes and coaches who receive some remuneration but are by no stretch paid on the scale of the AFL or NRL? In most cases it is not a living wage. The cap of two per cent on in-kind contributions will also have a massive impact.
Meeting room hire might not seem to be a big deal to this government, but again I urge you to go out to a local club and chat to the recreational groups who meet there. They cannot afford commercial facilities, libraries are full and, most important of all, clubs make them feel at home. They look after them and provide that important social connection.
Whilst I support efforts to increase sports participation, why has the new scheme focused so heavily on female sport when it seems this will be at the expense of efforts made to support sporting groups as a whole? Taking away facilities maintenance as a community contribution unless it is for women’s sport is lunacy. Only allowing payments for wages, coaches and other staff if it is for women’s sport is just crazy. Ask any athlete, coach or support staff at a local club and you will know none of them factor gender into their decision-making.
Sport, by its nature, is inclusive, and implementing this message will make it divisive. Facilities are there for everyone; they are not segregated into gender spaces. Coaching and support staff often cross into both men’s and women’s sport. I am frustrated by this entire issue and I do not understand how we go from trying to improve the reporting of community contributions to seeing ACT Labor impose social engineering on local clubs and local sport.
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