A Big Win for Clubs

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Last Sunday, I was thrilled to attend The Greens in North Sydney, where the Minister for Music and the Night-Time Economy, John Graham, announced the scrapping of the five-kilometre rule for clubs as part of the next tranche of proposed vibrancy reforms.

ClubsNSW has long advocated for clubs to have flexibility when it comes to deciding whether locals within a five-kilometre radius of their venues must be members to enter, so this is a fantastic outcome for our industry. It will be particularly beneficial for clubs who have social membership caps, including golf and sailing clubs.

I was also pleased to see the Minister for Gaming and Racing, David Harris, recognising the important advocacy and engagement by ClubsNSW and the club industry in NSW Parliament earlier this week: “Any legislation that makes it more difficult to visit and enjoy clubs is not in the interest of the industry or our communities,” he said. I encourage you to read the Hansard here.

At the end of the day, we want people to become members of their local club so that they can enjoy discounted meals, drinks and entertainment, and all the other wonderful benefits that being a club member delivers — not because a piece of legislation requires them to.

You can read more about the change here. Thank you to Norths Collective CEO Luke Simmons for hosting us all and helping to field questions from the media!

Like many of our member clubs, I was disappointed to see a number of inaccurate claims in last week’s media about the contributions clubs make to support veterans. Off the back of this media, my team and I have engaged with parliamentarians — including directly with Minister Harris, who is also the Minister for Veterans — to set the record straight about the significant contributions and support that clubs provide to veterans and their families.

RSL and ex-services clubs play a vital role in supporting and commemorating veterans, devoting their premises to more than 400 memorial areas and historical displays. Clubs also provide significant financial support to veteran wellbeing, including $1.65 million to RSL sub-branches and $138,000 to RSL LifeCare in 2022-23 under ClubGRANTS alone, while approving 89 per cent of grants made under the veteran welfare category.

ClubsNSW has also been active in advocating for important changes to the Federal Government that will support clubs through better access to affordable skilled resources. Through Clubs Australia, our team is engaging with several parliamentarians, including Assistant Minister for Immigration, Matt Thistlethwaite, and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Dan Tehan, to recommend that chefs and cooks be included on the Core Skills Occupation List, which will make it easier for clubs to hire migrant workers under working visas.

Stay tuned for more information about those two matters.

Two quick reminders:

If you plan on nominating or updating your voting delegates for the 2024 ClubsNSW AGM, you must do so before 5pm today. You can find more info on how to do that here.
The updated 24-Hour Economy Strategy has been released. You find out more about that here.

Tomorrow night, I am looking forward to attending the Castle Hill RSL 50^th Anniversary Gala Dinner — you can expect to hear more about that next week. Hopefully the rain holds out for a stunning event!

Have a wonderful weekend.