Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Prime Minister. I also thank the member for the question directed to the Prime Minister.

I am aware of the member's private member's bill and the two key provisions in that bill which go to mandatory precommitments and to dollar bets. In relation to mandatory precommitments, it was something that we had considered in the past, and we had rejected it. In part, that was because in essence it requires a licence to gamble. We know that the other side is serious about this, as are you, but we are not, because we know that most people indeed do gamble responsibly and do not necessarily need to register themselves to put a couple of dollars in a machine.

In relation to dollar bets, this was considered by the Productivity Commission. The Productivity Commission did find that 99 per cent of poker machines today are not technically capable of introducing dollar bets. Consequently, it would cost $1.5 billion to implement.

I will also just re-emphasise what the Prime Minister said: this is largely governed by state and territory jurisdictions. They licence the machines, they regulate the machines and they are responsible for their operation. We of course take gambling problems very seriously. We put considerable funds into financial counsellors which support people with problem gambling, as well as into gambling research. I think the problems of the future will come from the online environment. As you would be aware we have an inquiry into that, and we will be responding to that shortly.

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