Hawkins George: Responsible Gambling Bill — Second Reading 
Hawkins George: Responsible Gambling Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:610;Page:7850] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Responsible Gambling Bill be now read a second time 
. I am pleased to present this bill to the House. 
Gambling is a complex area that has strong and competing interests. The bill addresses these interests in a fair and transparent manner. May I say at this stage that I am grateful to the United Future party for the constructive approach its members have taken to the bill. The gambling sector is currently governed by more than one piece of legislation. Each has different objectives and treats gambling providers in different ways. This bill is the result of a review conducted in 2001. It repeals the Gaming and Lotteries Act and the Casino Control Act and creates a single framework. Aspects of racing are also included within the framework. The bill has four main objectives: to control the growth of gambling; to minimise the harm caused by gambling; to ensure that gambling is primarily used to raise funds for the community; and to ensure community involvement in decisions about the availability of gambling. 
The bill was introduced in February 2002. It was read a first time and referred to the Government Administration Committee on 26 February 2002. The committee considered over 1400 submissions. This clearly illustrates the high level of public interest in this area. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee including past members for their hard work and dedication in considering those submissions debating the issues and making many improvements to the bill. The bill is the result of many months of hard work and dozens of Cabinet papers. These papers are available on the Internal Affairs website so that people can see what Ministers considered and what decisions they made. Putting this material on the website is one aspect of our efforts to make sure the review was as open and transparent as possible. Despite this access and the provision of a large volume of plain English information a number of members of this House have continued to give out inaccurate information. I can tell the House that sitting opposite is Judith Collins who told people that the Government would take all the money and have it distributed by the Lottery Grants Board. Nothing could be further from the truth. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh yes the member did. People got upset when members went around feeding misinformation when the review material was on the website for everyone to see. All those secretaries who wrote the letters know the truth. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: They made it up. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: They made it up again. In particular those members told community and sports groups that the bill will centralise the distribution of profits from non-casino gaming machines. I have made a number of statements about this in the House in the media and publicly to reassure people of that. Of course the National Party will say that it was responsible. National Party members have never had responsibility on this bill and Judith Collins as a junior back-bench member has a lot to learn. 
I will now talk about what the bill does do. The bill sets out a risk-based approach to gambling. It classifies each type of gambling according to potential harm. Gaming machines are very high risk. The bill imposes a more strict and stringent licensing regime and is harder on gaming-machine operators. The committee has proposed many amendments to the bill. Some of these are new initiatives to support its key objectives and some of them are minor technical issues. I am pleased that the committee has endorsed the basic framework of the bill. I am also pleased that the committee adopted the key principle from the Gaming and Lotteries Act which is that non-commercial gaming is permitted only to raise funds for community purposes. This is very important when it comes to gaming machines. 
The bill introduces an enhanced system of distributing gaming-machine profits to the community. Many people and organisations that made submissions on the gaming review were concerned that gaming-machine profits could be used for inappropriate purposes. Many submissions called for greater accountability. The bill incorporates a variety of new measures to address some of these concerns. For example all gaming machines must be connected to an electronic monitoring system and there are powers to specify maximum costs and minimum returns to community purposes. I would like to draw members’ attention to key amendments proposed by the committee to increase the public accountability of the distribution process. For example societies will be required to publish how they distribute profits from gaming machines where to obtain application forms the process for dealing with complaints and details of both successful and unsuccessful applications. 
The committee also strengthened the provisions to keep people associated with commercial venues out of the grant distribution process. The provisions that ensure greater accountability may not sit comfortably with all non-casino gaming-machine operators. However in my view the need to limit the potential for abuse is paramount. We as a society will all benefit from a gaming-machine regime that is seen to have integrity and that is transparent and fair. 
Consultation on the bill also left me in no doubt that local communities want a greater say on the location and scale of gambling opportunities in their area. The bill supports the view that communities should be able to weigh up the benefits to their community funding against the harm associated with gambling. The bill does this by requiring territorial authorities to develop gaming-machine venue policy in consultation with their community. This policy must specify whether gaming-machine venues can be established in the district and if so where. The policy may also restrict the number of gaming machines that may be operating at a single venue. The committee has strengthened this section of the bill. 
The committee has also proposed amendments to enhance the bill’s harm minimisation initiatives. The bill establishes a Gambling Commission. Some of its functions include considering appeals against certain decisions of the Secretary for Internal Affairs and dealing with casino licensing conditions. The committee expanded its role to include providing advice to me as Minister of Internal Affairs. It will advise me on the performance of its functions and the administration of the Act. The committee also proposes that the Gambling Commission should report annually to me as Minister of Internal Affairs. I will present that report to Parliament. These are sensible amendments which the Government is pleased to support. 
The committee also recommended prohibiting new gaming machines with banknote acceptors. This includes both casino and non-casino machines. The Government appreciates the reasoning behind this proposal but we have decided that we will permit those machines to incorporate banknote acceptor devices with a maximum denomination of $20. 
I have concentrated on gaming machines in this speech because that is the greatest area of public concern and interest. However the bill simplifies smaller low-risk community fund-raising like raffles and housie. Most of the fund-raising may be conducted without a licence provided the relevant rules are followed. Members will be please to note that for next year’s Melbourne Cup—and I am sure the Speaker will be interested in this—sweepstake prize limits will have increased to a total of $500. I would like to advise the House that I intend to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper to the bill at the Committee stage. In addition to the banknote acceptor issue I raised earlier the Supplementary Order Paper will cover issues that arose from the committee’s consideration of the bill as well as a number of technical issues. I am pleased with the broad shape of the bill as amended. I believe it represents a giant leap forward in addressing the competing interests involved in the sector and creates a pathway to work together for the benefit of the whole community. I commend this bill to the House.