The following residents of the ACT draw to the attention of the Assembly that:
• ACT clubs must give at least 8 per cent of net gaming machine revenue as community contributions;
• last year clubs gave $11.9 million (12.6 per cent of net revenue);
• clubs currently have discretion to direct contributions towards their established purposes and their members’ priorities;
• this scheme funds more than 1,000 community groups, including junior sports and local charities;
• an ACT Government options paper has proposed that all or some of these contributions be diverted to a centrally administered fund;
• Chief Minister Andrew Barr and ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury have both spoken in favour of this proposal; and
• we oppose diverting any funds from the community contributions scheme into a centrally administered fund, including the Chief Minister’s Charitable fund.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call upon the ACT Government to:
• engage in a comprehensive consultation on this proposal with all stakeholders, including clubs, junior sporting teams, charities and community groups;
• commission a report into the social value of the ACT’s clubs and the community groups that they currently support, similar to Latrobe University’s ‘Value of a Community Football Club’ report; and
• provide to all stakeholders and the public a thorough economic analysis of diverting any portion of community contributions to a centrally administered fund, including impacts on current recipients of community contributions and the overhead costs associated with the operation of a centrally administered fund.