Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting the opposition's amendment to the motion. The Community Affairs Legislation Committee is the relevant and appropriate committee to deal with these matters.

This parliament has the opportunity to pass Australia's first national legislation to tackle problem gambling and we should not contemplate further delay. The changes in this legislation will help problem gamblers and those at risk of developing gambling problems to take control of their addiction. We need to pass this legislation this year to ensure that the time frames for implementing these changes can be met and to provide certainty for industry to move forward.

The first requirements in the legislation will come into effect next year. Passing the legislation this year gives us the time we need to develop regulations in consultation with industry and states and territories—something they have been calling for strongly through the committee process. These changes were announced back in January this year and an exposure draft of the legislation has been available publicly since February. We have consulted extensively with the clubs sector, casinos, hotels, manufacturers, the community sector, and state and territory governments through workshops, forums and written submissions. We have since made amendments to respond to the issues raised by stakeholders and to improve the workability of the legislation. These changes, importantly, have also been the subject of two inquiries by the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform. This is why that committee was established. One of those inquiries focused on precommitment schemes specifically and one is currently underway on the legislation itself.

Now the bills have been referred to another inquiry. Perhaps this is about the opposition trying to stall, defer and delay so that they do not have to put their vote on the record on this important issue. There is no case for further delay. The opposition's amendment should not be supported.