Tasmania is at a political and moral crossroads. With the THA trying to stop our promised pokies reforms, the integrity and backbone of every MP is under pressure. I for one will not be buckling nor do I feel the need to.
The parliament was totally unified in 2021 when I led the Future Gaming Markets legislation through parliament, which included the first publicly debated (and agreed) commitment to precommitment and cashless play in Australia. Labor’s Dean Winter as the shadow spokesperson was a strong supporter of these specific reforms, and even challenged us to lock the commission’s review into the legislation.
I was more than happy to facilitate that! However, I’ve noticed he’s gone very quiet on this subject since he became Labor leader. Why?
Everything that has been done by the government and the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission (TLGC) since that time has been consistent with that vote of the parliament, and has included public consultation on at least three occasions.
How Tasmanian Hospitality Association (THA) chief Steve Old can dare try to accuse the government (and myself in particular) of being misleading and of zero consultation is one for him alone to explain.
After all, Mr Old personally signed the THA submission to the first process run by the TLGC.
With regard to time frames and the complexity of establishing the new system, we were always honest.
To be clear, the Ministerial Direction instructs the commission to implement the system “as soon as practicable” and included a specific instruction to consult further with industry.
To be clear, Mr Old is trying hard to discredit essential and overdue reforms to the poker machine industry because he claims it would affect the viability of venues. These are reforms that we promised to implement, including at the election this year when the people of Tasmania had their say.
These reforms will put real power back into the hands of players, deciding in advance how much money they want to be able to lose, before they start losing.
This is a power shift from the software that is programmed to influence the player to think they are winning when they are actually losing.
I believe that once mandatory precommitment is introduced in Tasmania, consistent with the government’s Ministerial Direction of September 2022, every other state will follow – because it’s pro-freedom to play, pro-family and pro-business.
I believe families, sports clubs, businesses, employers and even lives will be saved as a result of people having reasonable loss limits.
The only players who might be inconvenienced are perhaps the problem gamblers who will find the machine stops working when the loss limit is reached. Anyone who truly wants to lose more than $5000 will be able to do that, by simply applying for a higher limit and showing capacity.
Where did I get this idea from? I didn’t just make it up. Federal Group have had this system in place for their Premium Player Program for more than two years. It works. Why is industry fighting the same idea for lower income people?
I’ve been restrained while Treasurer from being frank in my assessment of Mr Old’s various claims over the past two years.
Now, I am not prepared to sit idly by and allow the genuine public interest to be defeated just to appease those venues who are massively profiting from the misery of Tasmanian families.
Finally, as to claims that venues would be unviable. That is a very surprising claim to make.
As Treasurer, I asked for the profit results of licenced venues as a result of the new gaming laws that I introduced from July last year, compared to prior.
In just one month (December 2023), the vast majority of pubs were up by between 40 and 60 per cent.
The highest additional retained revenue was an additional $73,000 in one month alone, in just one venue.
With so much extra profit being made right now, thanks to Liberal reforms, there is room for genuine harm reduction if we care for the public interest.
We should be alert to sectional interests trying to undermine Tasmania’s nation-leading approach, informed by facts, progressing with plenty of consultation, unanimously supported in parliament. The public interest demands it of us all.
