Mr RIOLI - 1998-10-08
The Auditor-General said in his August report that the minister breached the Gaming Control Act by using $2.7m earmarked for sporting clubs to run the minister’s own department.
Can he explain why he has deprived sporting clubs of $2.7m?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, in fact, we have not deprived sporting organisations of one single dollar. If members opposite really had concern about this why didn’t they say anything at the time?
The monies collected from the lotteries funds are able to be allocated in a number of ways and some of those ways is supposed to involve a direct Treasurer’s instruction. Some of those go direct to our sports development fund.
Certainly, there are monies that, at this stage, do go to the running of the Department of Sport and Recreation, which is appropriate because it is that very department which administers the sports grants. There is no doubt that what we have here in the Northern Territory is the most generous form of support for sporting organisations in the country by far - not simply by far but a factor of more than 10 over the next highest.
The fact is that sporting organisations are not missing out on more than $2m a year. That is simply not the case. The fact is that the report also made the indication that some monies were not always expended in the one year. Members on the other side have said that as a result organisations have missed out there also. What happens there is that we don’t always spend the money every single year because when we need big-ticket items like multipurpose stadiums and the like, if we simply use the funds allocated for the one year, there would be no funds left for any other sporting organisation in that particular year.
The fact is that the money is spent on sport. It is spent on the administration of sport. It is spent on the departmental administration of sport. To say that sports organisations are missing out in any way is absolutely untrue. The department provides both administrative support and professional support to the organisations.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: It is obvious that people like the member for Wanguri have no idea, or no interest in the answer. I am more than happy to go on record to say that sporting organisations are not missing out on $1 of what is not only, as I have said, the most generous scheme in the country but the most generous scheme by more than a factor of 10 over the next organisation. I think this government can stand proudly on its record with sporting organisations, and its continued track record both in the present and the future.
Can he explain why he has deprived sporting clubs of $2.7m?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, in fact, we have not deprived sporting organisations of one single dollar. If members opposite really had concern about this why didn’t they say anything at the time?
The monies collected from the lotteries funds are able to be allocated in a number of ways and some of those ways is supposed to involve a direct Treasurer’s instruction. Some of those go direct to our sports development fund.
Certainly, there are monies that, at this stage, do go to the running of the Department of Sport and Recreation, which is appropriate because it is that very department which administers the sports grants. There is no doubt that what we have here in the Northern Territory is the most generous form of support for sporting organisations in the country by far - not simply by far but a factor of more than 10 over the next highest.
The fact is that sporting organisations are not missing out on more than $2m a year. That is simply not the case. The fact is that the report also made the indication that some monies were not always expended in the one year. Members on the other side have said that as a result organisations have missed out there also. What happens there is that we don’t always spend the money every single year because when we need big-ticket items like multipurpose stadiums and the like, if we simply use the funds allocated for the one year, there would be no funds left for any other sporting organisation in that particular year.
The fact is that the money is spent on sport. It is spent on the administration of sport. It is spent on the departmental administration of sport. To say that sports organisations are missing out in any way is absolutely untrue. The department provides both administrative support and professional support to the organisations.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: It is obvious that people like the member for Wanguri have no idea, or no interest in the answer. I am more than happy to go on record to say that sporting organisations are not missing out on $1 of what is not only, as I have said, the most generous scheme in the country but the most generous scheme by more than a factor of 10 over the next organisation. I think this government can stand proudly on its record with sporting organisations, and its continued track record both in the present and the future.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016