Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Minister for Disability Reform has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is the only jurisdiction where the government and industry indicated that they would be prepared to consider a trial of full pre commitment.

The ACT is a microcosm of the Australian gaming industry. There are approximately 5000 gaming machines in the ACT, which is more per capita than any other state. Gaming machines in the ACT are similar to New South Wales, which has approximately half the machines in Australia.

(2) (a) Minister Macklin met with the former Chief Minister, Mr Jon Stanhope MLA, on 23 March 2011 to discuss a trial in the ACT. (b) to (d) The Minister consults regularly with her colleagues in the ACT on a range of matters.

(3) The Commonwealth Government first raised a trial with all state and territory gaming Ministers' on 25 February 2011 at a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Select Council on Gambling Reform.

At the 25 February 2011 COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform meeting, the Tasmanian Government offered to host a trial, pending industry consultation. Discussions were held and the Government was later advised that Tasmania would not be able to host a trial.

The Government has held discussions with the ACT Government since March 2011, about a trial in the ACT.

The Commonwealth Government is also consulting with the New South Wales Government about a trial in the ACT. This consultation commenced in December 2011 and relates to towns located close to the ACT. The Commonwealth Government has sought advice on the participation of venues in these locations and access to relevant data.

(4) The Commonwealth Government is offering financial assistance to clubs in the ACT to participate in a trial. This assistance recognises that they will be introducing mandatory pre commitment before venues in other states and territories. These are special arrangements for the trial only.

Testing revenue impacts is part of the trial. This assistance is to make sure that local clubs and communities are not negatively impacted from being part of the trial.

The offer includes a participation fee for venues in recognition that there may be an impact on their business, which has flow on impacts on their community contributions and taxation revenue for the ACT Government. Clubs in the ACT have been offered a participation fee equivalent to 20 per cent of their 2010-11 gross gaming revenue.

The Government has also offered assistance for staff development and training and business planning. The venue readiness and capacity package will be allocated to clubs as follows:

(5) The pre-commitment trial will commence in 2013 and be conducted over a period of 12 months.

Each stage of the trial will be conducted independently. One or more bodies will be engaged to design, manage and evaluate the trial. The design and evaluation of the trial will be subject to a peer review by academics with relevant expertise.

The methodology for evaluating the trial will include:

The trial will monitor gambling behaviour for not less than 12 months. An independent financial auditor will be appointed to ensure the integrity and transparency of any financial data. The results of the trial, and de-identified data from the trial, will be publicly available (subject to ownership of the results and data, privacy conditions and release arrangements).

The trial will be rigorously evaluated and subject to an independent review by the Productivity Commission. The Productivity Commission will report to the Parliament in 2014 and make recommendations about whether a national roll-out of mandatory pre commitment should proceed.