Page 1662 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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If the economic impacts were not bad enough, public statements and commentary by Mr Rattenbury suggest he does not have a clue about the space he is regulating. Does Mr Rattenbury know that playing times in the ACT are not actually faster than elsewhere? They are not. It is incorrect. You want to talk about truth in political advertising! Does Mr Rattenbury know that load-up limits do not actually disable the gaming machine? We have been talked through how, indeed, people get around those load-up limits and do it very, very easily in Queensland.
Does Mr Rattenbury want more clubs to close, to lose some of those important community hubs that he allegedly values so much? Does Mr Rattenbury know that, according to an answer to a question on notice that my office received from Minister Ramsay’s office, there was over $2 million in the gambling harm reduction fund that was sitting unspent? It has been collected from the clubs but it is just sitting there, unused. I find that astounding. Gambling harm is a serious issue in our society. All this money raised is sitting there unspent, which I think is outrageous.
The Canberra Liberals, when it all boils down, do not actually believe that this Labor-Greens government takes gambling harm reduction seriously. You all say you do. There is lots of virtue signalling, but where are the outcomes? All these regulatory changes, year after year, all these new levies and taxes, for what? What have we actually achieved? The ACT gambling survey in 2019 showed no demonstrable improvement, despite all this alleged reform. Why are we talking about clubs’ gaming rooms being closed? Why are we talking about clubs’ employees? Why can’t we talk about them going back to work? Why aren’t we talking about the community groups that are not being supported because clubs cannot fully reopen or have been forced to close?
I acknowledge that Mr Rattenbury is well intentioned—and he is on most things—but much more work needs to be done. I note that we have a somewhat sensible amendment from Minister Ramsay. I think there needs to be a focus on actual outcomes in the gambling harm reduction space. We will not be supporting this motion.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (4.23): I thank Mr Rattenbury for bringing this motion forward today so that we can have an important conversation about the place of clubs in our community and the impact of gambling harm. I thank Mr Parton for his contribution, and I want to refer to one point specifically.
Early on in his speech Mr Parton talked about the clubs not being able to open because of some interesting interpretation of health advice. It is really important to be accurate about how public health directions work in the ACT—
Mr Parton interjecting—
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