Page 1659 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020

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Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Ayes 12

Noes 9

Ms J Burch

Mr Pettersson

Miss C Burch

Mr Milligan

Ms Cheyne

Mr Ramsay

Mr Coe

Mr Parton

Ms Cody

Mr Rattenbury

Mrs Dunne

Mr Gentleman

Mr Steel

Mr Hanson

Mr Gupta

Ms Stephen-Smith

Mrs Kikkert

Ms Le Couteur

Ms Lawder

Ms Orr

Ms Lee

Amendment agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

Gaming—harm minimisation

Debate resumed.

MR PARTON (Brindabella) (4.10): The Canberra Liberals will not be supporting this motion, for a number of reasons. I start by commending Minister Rattenbury on his previous support for clubs as important community hubs. In April, in this chamber Mr Rattenbury said:

I hope that the minister and the rest of the government continue to engage with clubs and stakeholders in the sector to ensure viability of these important community hubs as we move through the pandemic and into the future.

I think they were well-thought out and sensible words.

It is a little disappointing now to see this gaming motion, which, if we actually implemented much of what is in it, would force more clubs to close, just like the Kaleen Sports Club did earlier in the month. Our clubs have not been allowed to fully reopen here, unlike the situation in New South Wales, because of some interesting interpretation of health advice. But, irrespective of the merits of that interpretation, the result is that many clubs have not been able to fully reopen. This has resulted in many hundreds of staff members sitting at home wondering when they will get back to work or even wondering if they will get back to work.

I do not think I need to remind members of the ABS figures released earlier this week that showed that the ACT had the second largest drop in payroll jobs of any state and territory. The index showed a significant decline in jobs for young people. Food service jobs were particularly highly impacted, and these people are hurting. At this time there is no way that we should be talking about creating an additional high-cost burden to the reopening of our clubs.

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