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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (9 April) . . Page.. 830 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

provide the necessary descriptive information about how and why gambling affects people. Qualitative data brings an interpretive dimension to research and should enhance understanding about the variety of issues relating to gambling in our community. It should look at people's values, perceptions and experience to give all of us a valuable insight.

Like the Greens in their motion, Labor is concerned that all stakeholders in the gaming industry in the ACT are consulted. There are diverging interests and opinions about the current state of the industry and where it should go. Government representatives, gambling industry representatives, community and welfare agencies and other sectors of the community which can provide relevant research and data should be given the opportunity to do so. Indeed, the researcher engaged should be empowered, through adequate funding, resources and time, to ensure that all are consulted. The researcher engaged should also consider the experience of other States. Some States have made enormous changes to the gaming industry over the past few years, and the effects of such changes have to be considered. It is also very important that the results of the social and economic impact study are made public. The community has been following this debate, and it is essential that they too are kept informed and listened to so that the Assembly makes a decision that can be held up for public scrutiny.

The proposed terms of reference that Labor has put forward encompass a range of issues on which detailed information is needed before any decisions about the gaming industry can be made in a responsible and informed manner. Such comprehensive information is not currently available, despite assertions to the contrary by the Licensed Clubs Association. Should such terms of reference be adopted, the results of the study will give a very clear indication of the current state of the industry, the extent of the current social problems, and whether there is currently an adverse economic impact due to money being spent on gambling at the expense of other forms of entertainment or other choices about lifestyle.

It is essential that everybody knows how many venues currently have poker machines or other forms of gambling services. We do not currently know whether there are links between location and patterns of gambling. There is no information available about the profile of gamblers in the ACT. For example, do women or men gamble more? Is it those on low incomes or the unemployed who are gambling, or is it people on high incomes, and what is the social cost? I am concerned, for instance, about a comment by the vice-chancellor of Melbourne's Monash University, who recently said:

Gambling is an almost perfect system for taking money out of the pockets of the poor and putting it in the pockets of the rich.

We need to know whether this is occurring in the ACT. We also do not know the extent or incidence of people with addictive or excessive gambling problems in the ACT. How can we vote to extend poker machines into other venues, or conclude whether there are too many poker machines already, without such knowledge? The commonly accepted figure is one or 2 per cent of the population, but how do we know? Another issue that I have picked up in my research on this matter is that each addicted gambler affects seven to 13 people around them. Is this the case in the ACT as well?

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