Page 2632 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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I think that it needs to be put on the record first and foremost that we are not a community of wowsers here in the ACT. For the most part we have got a fairly appropriate system of safeguards which I think it would be difficult and unwise to tamper with. Over the years we have built a series of policy approaches that for the most part, I think, provide a reasonable environment for the use of poker machines in the ACT.
Licensed clubs, which are not-for-profit community organisations, notionally speaking at least, are the only places, with a few very limited exceptions, where poker machines will be found in the ACT. For the most part, I think that this is a good policy approach. From time to time, the number of poker machines in use in the ACT has been discussed and, for better or worse, we have established a cap of 5,200 machines. One of the endearing legacies of the previous government, the Liberal government, was the establishment of the Gambling and Racing Commission. One of the very important roles of the Gambling and Racing Commission is the regulation and administration of the operation of poker machines in the ACT.
Over the years, when I was an adviser in the previous Liberal government I saw substantial and good improvements in the operation and the regulation of poker machines when that area was taken away from Treasury and put in that statutory authority. It is just the nature of the thing. It was a job that was originally performed by Treasury officials, and Treasury officials are about revenue. So it was often easy and tempting to issue a few more poker machine licences and perhaps be a little more lax, because one of the things that one needed to do was to ensure the integrity of the Territory’s revenue. But the establishment of the Gambling and Racing Commission put on a more socially responsible footing the administration of gaming machines. We saw for the first time under that regime that, when clubs made application for more machines, from time to time they were turned down, and there was very good reason for that happening.
We have to put on the record that licensed clubs in the ACT are an important part of the ACT community. Because they are not-for-profit organisations, they are substantial contributors to the wider community by the allocation of funds and grants. As an example of this, most of us at some time or other—and often on a very regular basis—attend, say, the community grants awards handed out by the Southern Cross Club where they make a bit of a fuss about the people to whom they give money. They give them a lunch and they hand them a cheque, and it is a testament to clubs like the Southern Cross Club the amount of money that they do give to community organisations.
In addition to that—the Chief Minister has spoken about this from time to time—they are substantial employers in this town. They are a substantial training ground for people in hospitality and are the places where many of our young people get their first experience of working in hospitality. They are an important part of the ACT economy. So let us not think that, because we are having a discussion here about the impact of poker machines in the ACT, we are going to be out proposing willy-nilly, without any thought for the future, the abolition of poker machines. That is not the case.
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