Page 2423 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 31 July 2018
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and today I table that government response. The Auditor-General made eight recommendations. Those recommendations show that there is more work to do in ensuring the transparency of our community contributions scheme, and that we can do better when it comes to providing rules and regulations for clubs.
The government has taken on board the Auditor-General’s findings and has agreed to six recommendations, agreed in principle to one recommendation and noted one recommendation. This month the government will be delivering on its commitment to ensure that our gambling industry is focused on harm minimisation and is regulated in a way that serves people in our community.
Independent of, and prior to, the Auditor-General’s report, this government committed to review the current community contributions scheme. That review has commenced, and the Justice and Community Safety Directorate is now directly engaged with industry and community groups.
The directorate wants to hear from stakeholders in relation to what is good about the current scheme as well as the areas in which it might be enhanced or improved. That feedback, along with the Auditor-General’s report, along with reports commissioned by the public service and along with reports commissioned by the GRC, will help the government to deliver improvements to the community contributions scheme.
The government response that I am tabling today makes clear that this government will be delivering more robust regulation of the gambling industry. This response is one part of a more comprehensive, broad-ranging effort to deliver stronger harm minimisation and greater transparency in the industry.
This sitting month we will be delivering a suite of new policies. These include the findings of the ACT club industry diversification support analysis. That piece of work is the foundation for achieving a reduction from 5,000 to 4,000 gaming machine authorisations. The suite also includes reforms to strengthen the territory’s gambling harm minimisation rules. These reforms will address issues arising from the gambling harm minimisation round tables and the outcomes of the investigation into the Raiders club in Belconnen in relation to Professor Laurie Brown’s complaint.
We are going to reform the gambling and racing code of practice. The purpose of that reform will be to ensure that our regulators have the tools that they need to enforce our harm minimisation rules. The suite also includes the outcomes review of the community contributions scheme and the work that the government will be doing to ensure that this scheme is delivering for the community.
The government will continue to ensure that our legislative framework is robust and is focused on people. Our gambling industry regulations are in place to ensure that first and foremost our community is protected against gambling harm. Those regulations also ensure that the industry delivers real, direct benefits to the community and serves to support people and organisations.
This response to the Auditor-General’s report is another example of our commitment to a more robust, community-focused approach to the gambling industry. We will
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