Page 3656 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 September 2018
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acknowledge the leadership and proactive response from Catholic education to this issue.
I thank the Assembly for the chance to provide this update and, as I have always done on sensitive issues such as this, I will continue to provide information to the Assembly and the community as it is appropriate to do so. I present the following paper:
Harrison School—Copy of statement—18 September 2018.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
Debate (on motion by Mr Wall) adjourned to a later hour.
Betting Operations Tax Bill 2018
Debate resumed from 2 August 2018, on motion by Mr Barr:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (11.11): The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill today. It is odd for the Liberals to be strongly supporting a new tax. This is a new tax, but it is a very fair tax and its introduction in this chamber is somewhat uncontroversial. As opposed to many things we see from the government, this one actually makes a lot of sense. However, when a tax is introduced we need to be absolutely be sure it provides the best value for the people of Canberra. I am not quite convinced that that is going to happen in this instance.
While spruiking this new tax to Canberrans, the government has only said this tax on betting operators will go back to supporting services for Canberrans—so straight into general revenue. To me, this sounds like plain revenue-gouging with no real vision on how this newly raised revenue will be allocated.
This new tax has been introduced in order to bring us into line with other states who have either recently implemented a point of consumption tax or plan to introduce the tax in the near future. It is a very sensible thing to do; it is very sensible that the tax should be paid at the place where people are actually betting—the place where gambling harm can be done—rather than in some other jurisdiction.
I understand there will be some conjecture regarding amendment or otherwise, so let me talk about the bill broadly. I want to focus on some of the intricacies of the bill that will perhaps go over the heads of those who have never had a bet. The bill requires that the tax is paid on any credits provided to a user.
I am unsure whether this measure is necessary, and let me explain to the uninitiated: many online betting operators will from time to time provide users with a bonus bet as a promotion. The bonus bet does not involve the punter putting any money in. Normally a betting operator will require a user to turn over or re-bet any winnings
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