Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In a secret negotiation in 2003, the Tasmanian government gifted the Federal Group a monopoly licence to operate poker machines in Tasmania. Since then, poker machines have cost Tasmanian gamblers more than a billion dollars. In fact, in the first month of this financial year alone, over $2 million was lost on the pokies just in the Glenorchy area.

This monopoly agreement expires in 2018 and the Tasmanian government is obviously interested in rolling over and extending it. This must not be allowed to happen because, if we are going to have poker machines in Tasmania, any new licence must be decided by an open tender and must include stringent harm-minimisation measures such as $1 maximum bets and mandatory precommitment.

What is really galling about all of this is the way the Federal Group is prepared to blackmail the Tasmanian community to get their way. Indeed, they have already said they might abandon $100 million worth of development in the state if the licence does not get extended. Thank God, David Walsh from MONA has acted courageously and refuses to build his proposed micro, high-roller casino if it means any extension to the Federal Group licence.

On a national level, Liberal and Labor receive enormous donations from the poker machine industry, and that is obvious from the policy decisions we end up with. For instance, the Liberal-National coalition overturned the modest reforms achieved in the previous parliament and they have announced an inquiry into online and sports betting that is more about protecting Australian gambling interests than helping problem gamblers.

The Labor Party is just as bad, seeing as they were very happy to talk about poker machine reform when in government but, ultimately, progressed only minimalist reforms and were then quite happy to help the Abbott government overturn them after the 2013 election. Not only does the Labor Party receive enormous donations from the industry but they also even own their own machines here in Canberra. In fact, just yesterday The Canberra Times reported that Labor Party-owned pokies venues made a $25 million profit this past year.

The poker machine industry preys on the most vulnerable and will stop at nothing to get what they want. Frankly, they think nothing of the harm they cause or the lives they destroy along the way. So shame on Liberal and Labor for kowtowing to the pokies industry. Shame on state governments for refusing to take any meaningful steps to help poker machine problem gamblers. And shame on the industry for bullying, lying and destroying lives to get their way. Shame on the lot of them.

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