Page 2633 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 25 September 2007
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I have spent some time describing the landscape, because it is an important and integral part of the way we work in the ACT. But there are many areas of concern in relation to the operation of poker machines. One of those, the most important of those, deals with the issue of problem gambling. Over the years there has been no doubt that the incidence of problem gambling has a huge impact on the social, moral and economic life of this city, as it does in other places. But just because it happens somewhere else does not mean that we should just absolve ourselves of any responsibility. We are here for the people of the ACT, and it is our responsibility to make good policy on behalf of the people of the ACT with the cooperation of the people of the ACT, irrespective of what happens in other jurisdictions.
We have seen an increased awareness on the part of the licensed clubs about their responsibility in this area. But at the same time there is quite a tension between what happens in licensed clubs in terms of raising money for the community, distributing money for the community, providing a place for social gathering for the community, providing employment in the community, and the impact that all of those activities have on a proportion of the population who become addicted to gambling. And it is an addiction; it is an addiction like an addiction to alcohol or an addiction to drugs. It does not affect all of us. There are certain personality types, there are certain classes of people, for whom this is bigger problem than for others. As responsible legislators we need to be alive to these issues and address these issues at every opportunity.
I think I need to put before the Assembly today just a few small collections of figures that will point to the problem that we are facing in the ACT. Earlier this year, Lifeline presented some figures to members of the Assembly, and they went like this: last year Lifeline received 182 new clients with gambling problems. Nearly 100 per cent of those 182 people had problems that related solely or largely to poker machines. Of those 182 people, 38 had contemplated suicide and 10 had gone so far as to attempt suicide. Mr Speaker, that is 182 people.
The research conducted by Professor Jan McMillen, about whom I will speak a little later, the population study that she conducted in 2001, indicates that about nine people come in direct contact with and are directly affected by that one person who is a problem gambler. So we are speaking of about 1,800 people in the ACT community, new people, who became directly affected by problem gambling and presented themselves in some way to Lifeline last year. This is a substantial proportion of people.
As we know from Professor McMillen’s and others’ studies, a disproportionate number of those people are young men, under 30, not particularly well educated; they are people who do not have professional or training qualifications. These are extraordinarily vulnerable people. These are people who, for the most part, should be the Labor Party’s heartland, but we see so much coming from the Labor Party which is thoughtless and unconcerned about the issue of problem gambling. I will take some time, Mr Speaker, to point to one area where we have seen a substantial failing over the last few years from the Stanhope government when it comes to problem gambling.
As I said previously, in the early part of this century the previous Liberal government introduced and established the Gambling and Racing Commission. One of the
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