Page 5209 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 29 November 2017
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saw the initiative on greyhound racing, coming on the back of efforts to deal with issues such as banning battery hens in the ACT, and a range of other animal welfare initiatives that position the ACT as a leading jurisdiction in this space as well.
Gambling harm minimisation is an area where in this Assembly we are starting to see some real progress. We have set the lowest betting limit levels in the country, at $2 for the casino, as well as a nation-leading requirement for a mandatory precommitment system. We need further work to be done on reducing the number of poker machines in the ACT so that we start to move towards at least the national average per capita. At the moment the ACT sits well above it. We are, if not the highest, certainly one of the highest jurisdictions in Australia in terms of the number of poker machines per capita. I am pleased that we will see progress on that matter in this Assembly. This is not just a matter of academic policy discussion; this is a matter of real impact on people. We see the harm that people experience through excessive gambling. It impacts not only on the individuals but also on their whole families and on their social circles. These are important social issues for us to be working on.
With a motion like this there are always things that we should reflect on that need further work. I think everybody in this chamber knows areas where we need to continue to seek improvement in Canberra. There are things we can do better and areas where we can innovate, and ideas will come to us in the future that we have not even thought of yet. I am very enthused by the prospect of continuing to be involved over the coming years, of embracing some of those opportunities here in Canberra.
We should celebrate our successes, but there are many areas of work in progress. I will touch on a few today. Housing affordability, as it is across the rest of the country, continues to be a challenge in this city. Whilst on some figures Canberrans are better off on average, we must never lose sight of the fact that there are those in the community who work in lower paid areas for whom the cost of housing remains a very considerable challenge. We need to be bold and innovative in this space. There is the potential to do things that have not been done before. We are prepared to do things that may be seen to be a bit unconventional. We must make further effort in the space of housing affordability.
Justice reinvestment and reducing recidivism and incarceration rates are areas that are inherently difficult to work on. But I am very encouraged by the commitment in the government to look at notions of justice reinvestment so that we can seek to, instead of being tough on crime, be smart on crime: spend our money in ways that will ensure that in the long term we seek to address the underlying causes of crime rather than simply catching people, locking them up and having to build ever bigger prisons. This is not the direction we want this city to go in. We want this city to be tackling the underlying causes, driving real social change and giving people new opportunities so that they do not find themselves continually in a cycle of involvement with the justice system.
There is much work to be done in this space. Again, it is a space in which to be bold and willing to try new things, because clearly, for those we already see in the justice system, what we have tried so far has not been enough. There is certainly scope to continue to improve what we do in that space. I am encouraged by initiatives such as
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