Page 6228 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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addicted to gambling outweigh any tax that a government would receive. I refer to the costs of social welfare workers, the costs of psychologists, the cost of alternative accommodation for broken families, the cost of police.
I believe that when the casino began in Tasmania there was an increase in crime in the nearby location, particularly in the evening. That problem was solved; they simply put on more police. Obviously, there is a cost involved in putting the police on. In South Australia there are two or three pawnshops very close to the casino where people regularly go to hock things so that they can get money to gamble.
There certainly is a vast increase in gambling in Australia. The visual display poker machines are very prevalent. Once upon a time in Sydney you would have to go to a club or a TAB to have that sort of gambling; but now you will find in hotels all over the place row after row of people gambling on visual display poker machines. One wonders how many of these people are parents. One wonders how many of the people are not accepting their parental responsibility.
Mr Jensen raised what I believe is a very valid point that will be borne out without any shadow of a doubt in time, and that is the effect that the casino or casinos in Canberra will have on the local club industry. We have already seen that many clubs are under severe financial pressure. We have seen a number of clubs close. I have not the slightest doubt that with a casino we will see more close. I think that is obvious.
It is extremely difficult to keep organised crime out of a casino. I do not say that it is impossible. It would probably be more possible in Canberra than in a place like Melbourne or Sydney. However, it is difficult. It would not surprise me at all if organised crime got involved, as it does in many casinos.
One of the major reasons, we are told, for having a casino is the money it will bring in. It is a grab for cash. Certainly, Canberra needs money. There is no doubt about that. Any community does. What I would do is take an entirely different viewpoint on raising money for Canberra. What I would do is create a city that people had to come to. Anyone coming to Australia from overseas would certainly come to Canberra. I do not think they will come here for a casino; I do not think they will come here for X-rated videos; I do not think they will come here for prostitution or for any of the other things that are available in many other cities around the world.
I think they would come here if we created a different vision for Canberra, and what better place to do it than in a country that has led the way in democratic principles in the world? I believe, and I have mentioned it a number of times, that Australia has a system of parliamentary
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