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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Thursday, 24 June 2004) . . Page.. 2672 ..

MS DUNDAS (4.48): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name on the sand piece of paper [see schedule 2 at page 2756].

Mr Deputy Speaker, this amendment goes to the issue of time-limiting licences and in particular includes an additional system whereby licensees can renew their licences. The proposal of the Gambling and Racing Commission in its review of the Gaming Machine Act was to limit the length of a licence to five years. The commission at that time thought this would improve the compliance of licensees with provision of the Gaming Machine Act. I appreciate that many of the concerns raised by the commission in raising this issue have been dealt with by other means. Particularly, the commission may order the compliance of a licensee at any time. However, I think there are additional benefits to this idea, which is why I am seeking that the Assembly supports the amendment today.

It is highly unusual for a government to issue licences for an indefinite period. We put time limits on liquor and tobacco licences, on licences for running a brothel, on drivers licences and even on the lease for the use of land in the territory. What is so special about poker machines that they should get special treatment and be licensed indefinitely? It is clearly poor governance to continue handing out gaming machine licences in perpetuity. The commission raised that this issue might be problematic from the perspective of taking away a right, but my understanding is that the government has sought legal advice from the Government Solicitor and has confirmed that this would not expose the government to any liability, as it does not remove a right but simply changes a condition on a licence.

The second issue is that, by limiting the length of the licences, we allow the government and the Assembly future policy flexibility. My amendments do not affect the right of people who currently hold gaming machine licences, but they will allow the government and the Assembly the flexibility to change the licensing regime in the future if they wish. This is a very prudent position to take as the regulation of poker machines in Australia continues to change quickly. I do not think we should continue granting licences indefinitely in such a volatile and changing regulatory environment.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (4.50): Mr Speaker, the government will not be accepting this amendment. What it implies is that we should have a regular renewal process, and I think that is a retrograde step on what we do now.

We have within the commission an inspectorial process. We are a relatively compact jurisdiction. I happen to know some people who work directly in the commission, and they are very familiar with the characteristics and the doings of all of the clubs in the ACT. I would want to continue a process whereby we depend upon regular checks and on monitoring where it is thought appropriate, rather than slip back into a mechanical, regular, renewal process. Putting in a renewal cycle will only give us a more mechanical process than the one that we have now. The one that we have now is generally interactive, and I would like to think that we can continue to have an interactive process. Rest assured that, if people and clubs operate in breach of their licences, action will be taken.

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