Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this amendment, but let me just make a couple of brief comments. Firstly, I thank the member for Denison for the constructive way in which he has engaged with me and the government in relation to this bill as a whole. I hope that he thinks that we, likewise, have been open, up-front and constructive in the way that we have engaged with him.

I understand his concerns in relation to in-play betting at place-based locations, and I say to the member for Denison—and I have said this to him privately—that our intent in this bill is to ensure that the original intent of the Interactive Gambling Act remains in place and is adhered to. Consequently, we are making those amendments to the click-to-call issue, because we felt that people were getting around the original intent of the act to be able to do click-to-call in-play betting. But, in relation to this, our intent is to keep in place what currently exists, which is that you can do an in-play bet at a terminal in a licensed venue, and we are not proposing to go any further than that.

In relation to his concerns about the slippery slope, I make a commitment to the member for Denison and to the House that we will keep an eye on this in order to monitor it. We do not believe that those things that he has raised will eventuate. You cannot, under the act, download an app onto your own device. It does need to be a venue's device on which you do the in-play betting. That is what the current law is and we are not proposing to change the current law.

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