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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (22 August) . . Page.. 3181 ..

MR STANHOPE: Yes, I beg your pardon. I think the point has been made. If a licensed club chooses to close the bar between 4 am and 7 am, for example, then the gaming machines must not operate during that period.

I agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by Mr Kaine in relation to this bill that one of the difficulties we have in considering it is that there really is no evidence, to my mind, that the restriction on club members that is being proposed by this bill will do anything to lessen problem gambling, and that is what we are talking about here. We are debating this bill very much in light of the report which was presented by the Gambling and Racing Commission to the government in late July. That is a most disturbing report. The Chief Minister has given a summary of the contents of that report, and each of us in this place accepts that gambling, and problem gambling in particular, is a serious societal issue. Problem gambling, to the extent that it is a response to compulsive behaviour, is as destructive as a lot of other compulsive or addictive behaviours that people exhibit. People do lose control of their lives. Their activities and their actions become very destructive of themselves, of their families, and more generally of the community.

We all acknowledge that we have a significant problem in this community, as does every other jurisdiction in Australia, with problem gambling, and this bill is a response, in a way, to the delivery of that report. It is an immediate response that is made in the absence of any evidence that it will do anything to deal with people who have a problem controlling their gambling, people who have become compulsive in the way that they gamble and have lost control of the capacity to discipline their gambling behaviours.

The report released by the Gambling and Racing Commission, which the Chief Minister referred to in his speech, certainly is extremely disturbing. The report included a whole range of policy-relevant findings, but it did not make any recommendations about how to address problem gambling. There are no recommendations in that report about how to address problem gambling. We all understand that a second report is being prepared which will be provided to the government in the near future. It had initially been indicated to us that that report would be available this week, but my inquiries revealed that it will not be available for another couple of weeks. In fact, it will not be presented to the government before the Assembly rises. We understand that that report will canvass various policy options in relation to gambling, including problem gambling.

That begs the question: why, in advance of the delivery by the Gambling and Racing Commission to the government of its second report, one which does address policy issues around problem gambling, are we debating this bill? Why? It's just not sensible. It is not good process. It does not make sense to be debating and potentially passing into law this measure at this time in advance of a report which is expected to be provided to the government within the next couple of weeks. This is not good practice. It is not good process.

It needs to be said, and Mr Kaine expressed it eloquently, that we do not have the evidence we need on which to base a decision. In the absence of such evidence it may well be that the adverse effects of this bill are greater than the beneficial effects.

To some extent the information which the Chief Minister has tabled is almost a case for not proceeding with this bill. In a way it raised the level of my concern about this bill. I think it put the position quite starkly. The Chief Minister has advised us that the

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