Page 3877 - Week 10 - Thursday, 27 August 2009
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There is, of course, doubt about who does actually own the Canberra Labor Club Group. A lot of people have raised these concerns, including the Chief Minister. He, too, has bought into this debate and gave a valuable contribution in that he certainly outlined some of the vagaries in regard to the ownership. Regardless, the Canberra Labor Club Group as at 30 June 2008 held about 9.8 per cent of the poker machines in the ACT. This is according to the review of the maximum number of gaming machines allowed in the ACT as published in September. So we have this issue whereby the Canberra Labor Club Group, which could be owned by the Australian Labor Party, the governing political party in the ACT, is requesting from a commission comprising public servants—
Ms Gallagher: One public servant.
MR COE: Sorry, comprising a public servant in that capacity, and perhaps other public servants in other capacities. They are put into a very, very tricky situation, I would think. Of course, they are all good people and they will do what the government requests of them. However, when you have loyal public servants who will do their jobs to the best of their abilities but who are put in a situation that is undesirable, that is not their fault; that is the fault of the government for bringing about that process. Again, the burden falls upon the government to actually show some leadership here and to actually do the right thing.
It is interesting that this report also highlights the amount of money which the average Canberran is actually pouring into poker machines. I think these figures are absolutely startling, and I think it is well worth stating this in the Assembly. In 2004-05 the per capita expenditure on gaming machines by the average adult was $746. I do not put anywhere near that amount into a gaming machine in any given year. I would not think that any of my colleagues would put in $746. Therefore, there must be quite a few people who are putting in way above $746 per year, thus driving up the mean to $746.
What is the median, I wonder, of this data set? I doubt it is $746. I would think the median would be actually far lower. There are a significant number of problem gamblers who are perhaps driving the mean up to $746. That is a startling figure, and one that I think the Assembly really needs to look into as to how we can better empower the commission and the club sector to deal with this issue. They are, of course, experts in this space, and any support that we as an Assembly can give them would be appreciated.
The club sector have a vested interest in being responsible, and the club sector are very keen for their own reputation and for the welfare of Canberrans to do the right thing and to help curb problem gambling as much as possible. It is for this reason that the legislation states that revenues from poker machines should be for the community’s benefit. That is an eminently reasonable position. However, it is disappointing that it is possible that the Australian Labor Party could, in fact, be profiteering to the tune of $50 million on the back of problem gambling.
I said earlier last week that in Belconnen the percentage of poker machines owned by the Labor Club Group is pretty startling. In June 2008 the Labor Club Group operated
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