Dear Members,

RSL Club Refurbishment
The Club refurbishment has been progressing expeditiously and is on track to be completed by 10/12/10 as per schedule.  Many sections of the Club have already been completed.  The new colour scheme, some new lighting and carpet has certainly given the Club an ultra-modern appearance.  New furniture will be installed on completion of the refurbishment to ensure comfort and luxury for all.  Clifton Gardens will be transformed into a more up-market outdoor area with beautifully landscaped areas and timber decking making it an ideal area to enjoy outdoor dining and / or social drinks.

Community Support by your Club
The Club has continued it’s tradition to serve all Members’ of the Club, the Burwood community and neighbouring suburbs the best it possibly can. In addition to providing a welcoming, friendly and secure environment for citizens, particularly the elderly, subsidised amenities such as entertainment, sporting facilities, meeting rooms, function accommodation and affordable dining, the Club has contributed enormously with direct financial support.
For the 12 months ended 31st August 2010, the Club provided direct Community support to a record value of $665,173.
The support is focused on local charitable, amateur sport or community organisations who do not receive any government funding. Particular emphasis is placed on assisting people with disabilities, aged, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, women and young children.

Threat of Federal Government Intervention of State Government Controlled Gaming
As a Club member you have an interest in this Club’s continued growth and success – after all – “It’s your Club.”  I regret to inform you that your Club’s future is threatened because of a deal made by the Federal Government with an independent member of parliament from Tasmania, named Andrew Wilkie.
Mr Wilkie won only 13,000 votes in the election and has never visited our Club; but he demanded the Federal Government take action on poker machines in order to win his vote and the Government agreed to his demands.  This letter outlines for you what impact that deal would have for our Club and how you can help to stop it from happening.

What could happen to our Club?  The Government committed that it will implement a $250 daily withdrawal limit on ATMs in Clubs and Pubs (the Casino will be exempted).  This means that if you need more than that, you will be prevented from having access to your own money in the safety and security of your Club.  The Government has also announced that it will support mandatory pre-commitment on poker machines.  This means that you would have to apply for a device which you insert into the poker machine in order to activate it and the device would control how much money you can spend playing.  The device would record how much you spend and stop you from playing on every machine in the country once you had reached a set amount of spending.  It would be a ‘license to gamble.”

We believe that these measures treat all our members as irresponsible and like problem gamblers.  You should be able to have access to your money in your Club.  We believe you are already able to set your own limits on poker machine play like a responsible adult and should not be told by the Government how much you can spend.  We also believe that problem gamblers should get proper counselling and help, rather than forcing all Club members including you to get a license to play a poker machine.  These measures will be expensive and will force us to cut jobs, increase prices of food and drinks and reduce our community support.  This money would otherwise be spent on member’s services and the local community.  Because these measures would only apply to poker machines, punters will stop coming to the Club and will go online to gamble – reducing Club revenue by around 30 percent.  That is a high price to pay for one vote in parliament.

How can I object to these measures?  If you want to protest against these proposed threats from the Government, please write to our Federal MP, Tony Burke expressing your concern and angst against these proposals. He  can be contacted at the Electorate Office, PO Box 324, Kingsgrove, 1480, email Tony.BurkeMP@aph.gov.au

Christmas Activities
To assist members in forward planning for the festive season the following information is provided:

1.         Burwood RSL Club will be open from 11am to 1.00am on Christmas Day with the Brassiere, Café and Function centre all open for Christmas lunch feast. The Café will remain open all day. Club Burwood will be closed on Christmas day, normal trading all other days.
2.         All the RSL Club raffles will include a minimum of 20 hams plus other Christmas fare of the 55 prizes per raffle, with the exception of Mondays, being held from 24th November to 24th December, 2010.
3.         All Club promotions over the Christmas festive period will continue as normal except for Christmas day all promotions will be cancelled.  Refer to separate advertisement for dining and entertainment on Christmas day.

Promotions
The Club conducts numerous great promotions, some of which are detailed in this magazine. There are many Christmas and school holiday activities including family Bingo and Movies during January.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff, I wish all members a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Additionally I extend thanks to all members for your continued

Kind regards

General Manager