Page 4989 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 11 December 1990
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GAMING MACHINE (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 3) 1990
Debate resumed from 29 November 1990, on motion by Mr Duby:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (9.18): Mr Speaker, this Bill really is part of the package of legislation to abolish GALA that we have just considered. It is not clear to me why it was not included in that cognate debate. The main effect of this Bill is to transfer the existing powers of GALA under the Gaming Machine Act to the Commissioner for Revenue. It is pretty much a housekeeping matter. Nevertheless, as it does go with the other Bills which have just been passed, it is worth repeating that we are still to hear any good reason for abolishing GALA. In all of the opportunities that were given to Government members, we have not heard them put up one cogent reason for that action. I was listening to Mr Collaery's comments upstairs. Of course, he claimed that it was not really his idea anyway; that the idea had been around for ages and that they were just doing it on behalf of some unknown entity. I remain firm in my view that you need a reason to do this, and we have not heard one.
This Bill now under consideration is a part of that package. So, all of the difficulties I raised with that previous package apply to this Bill. For that reason we will be opposing it. I am also aware that there are, yet again, a raft of amendments to this Bill. I am not sure whether they have yet been circulated. Again, it is an indication of hasty drafting and an indication that the Government is not really ready to go ahead with this bit of business. They have not really thought it through. They are unable to say why they want to do it. In fact, they have not even managed to get the nuts and bolts of the legislation right.
For Mr Collaery's information, the blame for that attaches quite firmly to the Government, not to any of their Government servants. Any impression that Mr Collaery might have given that I was in any way criticising those public servants is quite false. I would sheet the blame home quite firmly to Government members opposite. This Bill - like all of the others we have seen tonight - is hasty, it is ill thought out, and it requires virtual redrafting on the run from the floor of this chamber. We will be opposing it.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (9.21), in reply: That was very short and not very sweet. Clearly, there are no other speakers on this Bill. The Gaming Machine Act provides for the taxing and regulation of gaming machine operations in the Australian Capital Territory. As part of the legislative package to abolish the Gaming and Liquor Authority, this Bill will transfer the regulatory and revenue collection powers under that Act to the Commissioner for ACT Revenue.
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