Page 2881 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 1991
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of that particular recommendation, and it is a key recommendation. It is the first recommendation in the report and, in some respects, I believe it is one of the most important recommendations. I quote:
The Committee recommends that:
1. the ACT Government adopt as a matter of policy the urgent implementation of the Social Impact Survey recommendations relating to the epidemiological studies and the establishment of counselling, referral and education services.
such services be established irrespective of whether a casino is approved.
I repeat: "such services be established irrespective of whether a casino is approved".
Mr Berry: Which other ones do you want cut, Norm? Tell me.
MR JENSEN: It continued:
a proportion of total Government gambling revenue be dedicated to the funding of such services.
That is your answer, Mr Berry; that "a proportion of total Government gambling revenue be dedicated to the funding of such services". Mr Speaker, this recommendation now has been around for some time. We found - Mr Duby will bear this out, as, I am sure, will Mr Stevenson - as we moved around the country talking to people about their concerns about gambling in their societies, that they were unable to provide us with any clear evidence or effective studies. There was a lot of anecdotal evidence, but clear, hard evidence was a little bit difficult to find. That, Mr Speaker, was one of the reasons why the committee made that very important recommendation.
Quite frankly, Mr Speaker, I am incredibly disappointed that successive governments of all colours in the ACT have chosen not to implement that important recommendation. I do not believe that there would be a major cost involved in that; but I do believe that, without such a study and without such a counselling service, Mr Berry and Mr Connolly may find that other parts of their budget are going to suffer a greater cost because of the effects of gambling on families within the ACT. It is all very easy to say, "Why don't we take it? Where are you going to get the money from?". I suggest to both those responsible Ministers that a small amount of money, comparatively, spent in this area may end up saving them a considerable amount of money in their welfare budget. I close on that note and request that the government of the day pay due regard to that very important recommendation and seek to implement it as quickly as possible.
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