Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Registered clubs and hotels in Australia play a vital role as a link for the community. Clubs in my electorate nurture junior sport. They are a place for communities to meet and for returned servicemen to gather—they are a place where the community can socialise. The clubs and hotels in my electorate and right across Australia are under threat because of the gaming reforms being proposed by the member for Denison and supported by the Prime Minister in her desperate attempt to cling to power. I think it is a sad day for Australia when the millions of people who are members of registered clubs and users of hotels are held to ransom by the sanctimonious crusade of one member of parliament. What is even more tragic is that the Prime Minister and members on that side of the House and the Independents, who sit behind me, are going to support this person purely to hang on to power. They are going to sacrifice what is good for their communities; they are going to sacrifice junior sport; they are going to affect the welfare of ex-servicemen—purely to hang on to power and pander to the wishes of a very minor Independent member from Tasmania.