Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to be speaking on this motion and I commend the member for Lyne for bringing it to the House. I am also particularly pleased to be talking after my colleague the member for Wakefield, who is, by my recollection, one of only three members of the entire parliament who in their first speech to parliament said that they were committed to addressing problem gambling, particularly poker machine addiction. There must be something in the water in South Australia.

Twenty-one thousand dollars a year is a lot of money to lose through problem gambling. About half a million Australians are putting that much money in poker machines or losing it on the track each year. You can imagine that if it were happening to any other group of Australians we would hear a clamorous uproar from those on the other side of the House saying that the government should step in and do something about this, and that we do not, and that there is only one reason we do not, and that is that we are concerned about dislodging some vested interests in this particular area.

The Gillard government's position has always been that we want to do something to address problem gambling. We commissioned and welcomed the Productivity Commission report into problem gambling. We have put in place a program to implement, on an evidence based method, the principal recommendation of the Productivity Commission, and that is that mandatory precommitment be installed on poker machines in poker machine venues around the country. One of the things that the Productivity Commission was keen to emphasise in its report was that if we are going to do this then we have to get the platform right. Getting the platform right involves trialling it and ensuring that the technology is in place and that the social systems—the human systems that support that network—are right before we rush out to roll it out all around the country. So the trial in the ACT of the precommitment technology is entirely consistent with the recommendations of the Productivity Commission—that is to say, get it right before we impose an obligation and roll it out to the rest of the country.

At the same time we are putting in place a requirement that every poker machine that is manufactured in the future is able to support the precommitment technology. This is a matter that has often been lost in a lot of the debate that followed the Prime Minister's announcement of February this year. There has been a lot of talk that Labor's announcement was somehow a backflip on our approach to poker machine regulation. It certainly is not. It is a commitment to doing it and doing it right.

At the same time the Prime Minister announced the $250 daily withdrawal limit from ATMs in gaming venues—of course excluding casinos—something that I support. Of course there is a need to put in place some sensible exclusions in particular suburbs or towns where clubs are the only source of an ATM. There have been discussions around that issue. In addition, we are putting electronic warnings and cost-of-play displays on poker machines by 2016, funding an additional 50 new financial counsellors to work with problem gamblers, strengthening self-exclusion arrangements and improving the staff training arrangements in poker machine venues. Together, these represent some of the biggest reforms that have been taken on by any federal government in this particular area. Therefore, they should enjoy our support.

Further, the government recognises that gambling online and sports bets are a growing concern. I agree with the member for Aston on this particular point and the member for Wakefield, who I know is also very passionate about this. That is why we have put in place a ban on the promotion of live odds during sports coverage, extended precommitment to online betting services, cracked down on online sports betting companies offering credit, introduced stricter limits on betting inducements and further increased the powers of the Australian Communications and Media Authority to enforce these new rules.

Given the comments from the member for Aston, I expect his wholehearted support for all of these government initiatives. I also understand that the Prime Minister has referred the member for Lyne's proposals to the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments Select Council on Gambling Reform. We are committed to doing something about problem gambling. (Time expired)

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