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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 2 Hansard (20 May) . . Page.. 413 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

profess to be seriously concerned about the social impact of gambling - that is, until any regulation which might affect them is put on the table. For example, the social impact of gambling has become, unfortunately, all too often a rationale to try to shore up control of the poker machine market by clubs.

Mr Speaker, my reasons for pursuing this issue have not changed since last year. I am concerned about the reliance of governments of all persuasions on the gambling dollar revenue, the out of control growth of the industry Australia-wide, the growth of problem gambling, which is primarily associated with poker machines in the ACT, lack of funding for education and prevention programs, and inadequate funding for counselling and community support services.

According to the latest research, Australia-wide gambling profits or losses to gamblers exceed $10 billion. Despite the rapid growth of the industry, there has been very little research on the direct and indirect impacts of gambling in Australia, and very little willingness by politicians to look seriously at the social fallout. It is very easy to reap the financial benefits from revenue from gambling and think about the social costs later. But now we can no longer afford to ignore these social costs.

In New South Wales, independent research has estimated the total cost to the community of impacts resulting from problem gambling at around $48m per year, and 3.8 per cent of the adult population in New South Wales have experienced a family member with a gambling-related problem. While we have not had this sort of research in the ACT, we know that problem gambling is a problem in the ACT. Welfare agencies, particularly groups like Lifeline who run a gambling counselling service, have many disturbing stories.

For example, according to the Lifeline 1996-97 annual report, the main type of gambling in which their 460 clients for the year were engaged was gaming, and the majority of clients earned less than $30,000. Twenty-one per cent of them were in receipt of full social security benefits. Lifeline are also experiencing an increase in the number of clients recently. For example, in the period July to September 1997 there were 152 appointments made, compared to 125 in the same period the year before. In the period October to December there were 145 appointments, compared to 94 in the same period the year before. The increase most recently is even more marked. One hundred and thirty-six appointments were made, compared to 36 the year before. Figures such as these are obviously a cause for concern, but we also need to know more about what makes people access gambling counselling.

Small businesses in the ACT have also expressed concern about gambling because of the impact on their profitability. This echoes concerns from retailers in Victoria who are concerned about the impact on their profits because disposable incomes are being affected by increasing gambling expenditure. Gambling issues, including prevention and treatment of gambling, social consequences of excessive gambling, and the danger of governments placing undue reliance on revenue from gambling were some of the specific concerns raised by the Social Justice Task Force of the ACT Churches Council in the recent ACT election campaign. While we have very limited statistics and some anecdotal evidence, we know little about the extent of the problem in the ACT, which is why I was calling for an independent inquiry last year.

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