SHELLHARBOUR Workers' Club chief executive Debbie Cosmos has hit back at claims that childcare at clubs would normalise gambling for youngsters.
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The club's board of directors last week unveiled a $64 million master plan for the site over the next 20 years - which included a long day care centre.
On Sunday Ms Cosmos agreed with Clubs Australia boss Anthony Ball that licensed clubs were in a good position to deliver affordable access to childcare in their communities.
However, Club Australia's submission to the Productivity Commission's childcare inquiry that not-for-profit clubs should be able to open day-care centres at their venues in return for tax breaks on their poker machine revenue has met with swift opposition.
NSW Greens MP John Kaye opposed having children "holed up in what are essentially gambling dens" while Tim Costello, who leads the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce, said the move would normalise gambling for kids.
Ms Cosmos refuted the claims, saying "clever clubs" were thinking outside the square.
"If clubs are in a strong position and have a large parcel of land, then I think there's a great opportunity to invest back into the community," she said.
"A childcare centre is certainly part of our master plan and would be positioned on the very far corner of our site adjacent to a residential area.
"It would be a stand-alone business, probably run by a separate operator, and would have a substantial outdoor play area."
Ms Cosmos said since the master plan was unveiled, the club had already been approached by three private childcare operators.
"There's already been strong interest from operators and we will validate that over the next six months by inviting expressions of interest," she said.
"Meanwhile you only need to look at the population, and projected population figures for Shellharbour for people under 15, to know that there's an extremely strong demand for childcare."
Clubs NSW chairman Peter Newell, who attended the unveiling of the Shellharbour club's big plan, said clubs which had day-care centres were reporting high demand from families.
"Revesby Workers' Club, as part of their development, put in a long day care centre around 18 months ago," Mr Newell said.
"That centre met an absolute need in that area and I understand there's a waiting list of around 18 months to two years.
"Not all clubs have the land to do it, and any such centre would need to be in a clearly identifiable area.
"To suggest that children are going to be in centres right next to poker machine areas is ridiculous - no club would want to do that."
The NSW branch of Clubs Australia commissioned a report that claimed a third of 4000 clubs would be keen to diversify into childcare services if they could get income tax exemptions on poker machine profits.