Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

In our announcement today, we stressed that we want coordinated national action. We want an effective national regime, not a state-by-state approach, and that is going to be this government’s attitude. I acknowledge one of the challenges in addressing the harm caused by gambling is the reliance of state governments on revenue raised from gambling. This is dealt with in a number of ways. Firstly, we will identify the specific measures that I have referred to here that need to be implemented. Then, if there is any particular impact on state revenue—if and when that is identified—we will certainly assess that impact and any implications it may have. I would point out that in terms of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, which distributes GST revenue to the states, we decided in February this year that it would no longer include gambling taxes in its analysis of how much a state receives in GST money. (Time expired)