Page 1217 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 2013
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The Greens remain committed to tackling problem gambling and will continue to bring initiatives to this place to address the effects of problem gambling and to reduce the enormous harms that poker machines cause in our community. Again I would like to thank members for their support of the bill.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (11.15): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name [see schedule 1 at page 1283].
The government agrees with the thrust of Mr Rattenbury’s Gaming Machine Amendment Bill 2013 and will support it, subject to an amendment. This bill has the effect of preventing the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission from approving a specific type of gaming machine or peripheral equipment that permits the use of an audio device except where the device is intended for a person with a hearing impairment. This type of machine or equipment allows the use of an audio device that sends particular messages or musical noises to the player.
The use of an audio device on a gaming machine is considered contrary to harm minimisation principles and responsible gambling practices as it isolates the player and contributes to a lower awareness of time or the reality of the player’s surroundings.
The ACT commission does not approve devices that are contrary to harm minimisation or responsible gambling. As a result the type of device referred to in this bill, that is not used currently in the ACT, would not be approved for use in the ACT. But the bill does formalise this fact by explicitly prohibiting them.
Such audio devices are already prohibited in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Therefore the amendments proposed by the bill, which insert a new section 69(2A) and the definition of audio device in section 69(4), are non-contentious, are aligned with current practice in the ACT and are consistent with approaches elsewhere. The government has no difficulty with those parts of the bill.
However, proposed new section 69(2A)(b) and (c) would allow the minister, by regulation, to ban any gaming machine or peripheral equipment. These are broad regulation-making provisions which appear to go beyond the intent of the bill. I note that this type of broad regulatory provision is something that the Greens have opposed in the past on philosophical grounds.
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