2010 Media Releases & Speeches
Jeff House, Members Lunch Speech - 25 February 2010
Firstly thank you all for coming and can I acknowledge Greg Jones from the Gambling and Racing Commission.
Can I also acknowledge our many corporate partners in the room today - your continued support really does keep us going and also a special welcome to our member clubs who are here today.
I understand that these events are usually opportunities for you to listen to some interesting, exciting and entertaining luminary from Canberra or elsewhere who would share some pearls of wisdom or just spin a good yarn so let me apologise for the fact that you're getting me instead
But I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to give you some idea of where I'm coming from and the approach I'll bring to this job and some things I want to get done - as it is after all, being done on your behalf.
It's fair to say at the outset that my exposure to this industry is reasonably limited.
I of course have about 15 membership cards of various clubs floating around - like most Canberrans. But the majority of my experience with the club industry, besides eating and drinking in them, came from my time working for Ted Quinlan while he was Treasurer.
So my knowledge of clubland as it's affectionately known was largely based on the many conversations I had with Ted over the years we spent in government
And during that time I understood for the first time, the value of clubs to the communities in which they operate.
It was during that time I understood, for example, the fact that for many in our community - the elderly in particular - clubs are the only place they can go to socialize and recreate.
Clubs offer a safe, clean, affordable and friendly environment for a significant and growing section of our community who's choices for venues are extremely limited indeed.
Clubs are of course much, much more than that but it was that one aspect of what clubs do, that struck me the most because it highlighted the now abundantly clear fact - that clubs perform roles in our communities that simply wouldn't happen if not for them - a fact which should never be forgotten.
But notwithstanding all that clubs do, I come to this job at a time of significant challenge for the industry.
And in that context I'd like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to my predecessor - Bob Samarcq who steered this organisation through great challenge and change for nearly 9 years. Bob's reputation and record are more than secure and I'll be doing well if I do even half as well as Bob - on and off the golf course - having played with a few of you earlier this week - you know just how much work I have ahead of me.
But back to challenges of a more professional kind…
It is perhaps appropriate that we gather on the same day the Productivity Commission provides their final report into gambling to the Federal Government.
Irrespective of what ultimately happens with this report, it is representative of one of if not the most significant challenges facing this industry - and that is the challenge of perception
As a relative newcomer to the industry, some of the reporting that I see in the media is more than a little bemusing to me. Bemusing though it may be and as new to the industry as I may be - I've been in and around politics long enough to recognize it for what it is - the media's collective decision to have a go.
And I hastily add to our friends from the media who are present today - that no it is not all media and nor am I naïve enough to think that the way some media outlets operate is going to change simply because I represent an industry which ends up with the rough end of the pineapple more often than not.
But we need to be realistic.
We need to understand the situation we're in.
We need to understand we're operating in an environment where we see headlines in the Canberra Times calling us the national pokie capital of Australia and that the 'Rate of machines per head soars above national average'
As if the raw number of machines per head of population was a more important figure than the actual rate at which people in town used those machines - which as a matter of fact is lower than the national average and much lower than NSW.
And we need to understand that we're operating in an environment where just last week, reporters from one of the evening national current affairs programs were caught filming at Bankstown Sports Club without permission. Having been discovered and subsequently asked to leave, they returned and tried to get footage of the gaming floor using their Blackberry's.
This was for a piece they were doing regarding the Productivity Commission's recent report on the not-for-profit sector which I'll come to in a minute - but this event highlighted a couple of things for me.
First - it demonstrates again the nature and scope of the challenge we have ahead of us in the perception game.
But it also points to the opportunity it presents because the host of this particular current affairs program loves his sport and was very keenly aware of the contribution that particular club makes to sport in New South Wales. Needless to say this presenter was none too happy about the program they were planning to put to air.
And I imagine that there'd be quite a few people in the community that would also be aware of the contribution that and other clubs make to the community at large.
I don't know what the membership of the Bankstown Sports Club would be, but it would have to be in the tens of thousands.
So even though we have a significant challenge ahead of us to counter and win the perception battle - we have a lot of weapons in our arsenal and every one of them are members of our clubs - of your clubs.
In the ACT, no other industry association can boast they have over 200,000 Canberrans holding membership of one or more clubs in town. In the language of politics - that's a lot of votes.
But more than that - it's a lot of people who understand what clubs are about and the value they represent.
But nor that doesn't automatically convert into us winning the perception battle and that's where we all have work to do.
We need to be smart about the way we prosecute our case. We have to always speak with the confidence of evidence and experience. We need to continually invest in ensuring we have the information and knowledge to support ourselves in convincing others to see it our way.
The way we are presented in the media is important. Politicians - the decision makers - read the same stories you and I do and so do a lot of other people.
And in the context of the media taking every opportunity to run a story about poker machines - let me spend a couple of moments talking about the Productivity Commission.
In my very short time in the job - the Productivity Commission has released two reports that deal with our industry. The first was released several days ago and it dealt with the not-for-profit sector in Australia. The second, of course, is the report into Gambling.
These certainly do not represent the Commission's finest work.
The not-for-profit report was supposed to look at ways to remove barriers to the further growth of the not-for-profit sector in Australia but ended up suggesting - though not recommending - that the tax benefit the licensed club industry receives - which represents about 20% of the not for profit sector nationally - should be removed.
The draft report into Gambling simply ignored terms of reference dealing with the positive impact the industry has in Australia leaving a report which is not balanced, by definition one-sided and therefore not a reasonable examination - in its own right - of the subject.
And to sit in a hearing and listen to the Commissioner's say that they acknowledge that clubs do good work but didn't think it was necessary to include that in the report - despite their terms of reference requiring them to do so - is simply not good enough.
I say this because it will be my policy to respond wherever and whenever this industry is being maligned, misrepresented or inequitably treated - particularly when it's occurring off the back of shoddy work or selective hearing.
This is my policy - whether it be the Productivity Commission or Tim Costello who thought it was fair to describe poker machines in Australia as the crack cocaine machines of the world.
I don't mind if we have to wear more regulation or legislation so long as it is based on evidence, fact and experience. I do very much mind when it's done on the basis of myth, supposition and prejudice.
If we are to be judged then let us be judged for what we are and not for what we are made out to be.
But this is a task that sits before all of us - not just one of us - or some us.
We are all part of one industry that will rise and fall as one industry.
We need to look beyond the borders of our own individual clubs and understand that when it comes to the future of the industry - every club is tied to the other.
We have a shared future.
I've spent some time talking about the perception battle because I think it's vitally important we get that right but I also want to raise some specifics in terms of some of the things I want to get done while I'm here.
The first thing I want to do is take a look at what you get for your membership and identify things we as ClubsACT can do that will make life easier for you as members.
I firmly believe that there is tremendous value in membership - we will always achieve more when 57 clubs speak with one voice than if we act as 57 individual clubs. And while there are very tangible results from the lobbying and advocacy that takes place on your behalf - I do want to look at how we can add value for you.
One of the things I want to investigate is whether we can provide an in-house resource for you to access information on relevant awards, on gaming legislation, on HR and other IR matters.
You all pay money to get the same advice so maybe we can save you money by providing a central, 24/7 resource to give you the information you need.
There may be other opportunities for us to sensibly add value to the way you operate but this is one that immediately comes to mind.
I also want to get some runs on the board in relation to the trading environment in which we operate.
Some of you will know that we have been in negotiations with Minister Barr on a package of measures that should make life abit easier for you.
The Government has already advised the Legislative Assembly that it intends to introduce legislation during the current session of parliament to establish a trading scheme for machines in the ACT.
This will be a major step forward and I look forward to being able to report to you on the details of this scheme and the other measures that are being discussed.
In the near term, the review of the Liquor Act is complete and the review team have made a number of recommendations to Minister Corbell. The major change, which is a significant increase in the license fees for venues that operate beyond midnight has been described to me as a system which is 'risk based and user pays'.
From my perspective - slugging every licensee across Canberra with a 4 fold increase in fees to try and solve a problem at 2 or 3 venues in Civic is neither risk based nor user pays so I'll be meeting with the Minister in the next couple of weeks to suggest an alternative approach for our industry.
Organisationally, in the medium to long term I want to ensure that ClubsACT is on a more solid financial footing. I don't want to be retaining large surpluses but we have no buffer at all and there are things that we should be doing to push our barrow and to provide a service to you that can't be done because we simply don't have the resources.
I also want to enhance the way we communicate with you. You will have already seen the first issue of the monthly update which will be the principle way in which I let you know what we're doing.
And I'm keen to get feedback from each of you on your ideas for what you want this organisation to be and to provide to you. After all, it belongs to you.
I'm a firm believer in the principle of you get out of life what you put in and it is the same with ClubsACT. Any industry association is only as strong and effective as the members it represents and from what I've seen so far - ClubsACT is pretty strong and effective.
As I wrote in a letter to MLAs recently
We have an industry which is professionally run by dedicated and talented staff who are without exception, firmly and demonstrably committed to the welfare of their patrons.
An industry that employs over 2000 locals.
An industry that spends millions of dollars on wages locally.
An industry that spends millions of dollars on goods and services locally.
An industry that pays tax locally.
And an industry that contributes $14m worth of cash and a much larger sum of in kind support to a myriad of community based organizations each and every year.
In short, we have an industry which is more than any other - by the community, of the community and for the community
And that is indeed something that all Canberrans - that all of you, can and should be very proud of.