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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3725 ..
MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):
I flagged my concerns with ClubsACT three months ago and I am still waiting for it to get back to me with its views on the proposal. However, I have received feedback from one club, the Canberra Tradesmen's Union Club, which advised me that it had been operating under a 24 - hour regime for seven years. One of my concerns with 24 - hour trading is that there are limited services during the early hours of the morning, particularly around the time the beer taps are turned off. In many cases, there are very basic food menus and the only real function is the poker machines. It is a very ordinary situation when we have clubs that are open just so that people can walk in at all hours to drop their hard - earned money into poker machines.
The Canberra Tradesmen's Union Club is certainly one exception. It has taken the time to send me a menu of the type of food, including breakfast, that it has on offer and it has listed a range of other reasons that people go into the club when liquor sales cease. But the most compelling part of the letter relates to poker machines. The letter reads:
Yes, we do have poker machines, but they are not played very much in the early hours. People relax and enjoy each other's company and don't play so much at that time.
Some supporting figures. Please note, we stop serving alcohol at 5 am.
June 18, 6 am, 120 people in the club, only 13 playing machines.
June 22, 6 am, 60 people in club, only 15 playing machines.
June 26, 6 am, 85 people in club, only 9 playing machines.
June 29, 6 am, 140 people in club, only 17 playing machines.
June 30, 6 am, 217 people in club, only 28 playing machines.
July 3, 6 am, 270 people in club, only 13 playing machines.
Mr Speaker, these figures make it absolutely clear that there is little demand for poker machines during these hours of the morning. It does beg the question, though: are these people on the machines at 6.00 am part of the estimated 2,300 to 7,000 adults in the ACT who have gambling addictions? Are they part of the group of people who genuinely need a break?
In March 1999, the Select Committee on Gambling produced a report on the social and economic impacts of gambling in the ACT, with particular reference to poker machines. The committee recommended that the government commence research on the current prevalence of gambling in our city and the relationship between problem gambling and the prevalence of poker machines. This research has not been conducted and it certainly appears that the impacts of 24 - hour poker machine operations have not been considered.
Judging by the small number of people using poker machines produced in the figures presented by the Tradies Club, turning the poker machines off for three hours would not adversely impact upon the clubs. The potential adverse impacts on the people on the machines and their families would be significantly greater. These are the negative impacts that this Assembly should be striving to minimise.
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