Lib-Lab duopoly in NSW fail community on pokies harm

The Alliance for Gambling Reform today slammed the NSW Government and Labor opposition for
colluding to ram terrible new poker machine laws through the upper house last night just 8 days
after the complex legislation was first revealed to the public.

The Alliance’s NSW spokesperson and deputy chair, Allison Keogh, who grew up in household
impacted by gambling harm, said the major parties failed to protect ordinary people by continuing to
deliver for a predatory industry which makes obscene amounts of money from an addictive product.

“It was incredibly dispiriting watching Labor and Coalition MPs heartlessly rejecting numerous
sensible amendments put up by Greens MP Justin Field late last night which would have tackled the
world record levels of gambling harm suffered by the people of NSW,” Ms Keogh said.

“With some notable exceptions such as Independents Alex Greenwich and Greg Piper, the Greens
and Fred Nile, the capitulation by Government MPs and the feeble Labor opposition was just so
disappointing and in stark contrast to Western Australia where there is Bipartisan support for
limiting pokies to casinos.”

“This legislation delivers on the dubious Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Coalition and
Clubs NSW shortly before the 2015 state election and The Alliance is calling on the NSW Government
and Labor Opposition not to sign another agreement with the predatory pokies industry before the
2019 state election.”

The Alliance is particularly concerned by a number of elements in the package including:

# The legislation completely failed to take a public health approach to assessing pokies applications
with even Labor voting against sensible amendments to make the risk of increased community harm
through family violence a factor to be taken into account;

# The reduction in machine numbers, which has been running at about 600 a year since 2009, will
stall now that smaller pubs and clubs will be able to lease their machines to bigger venues in more
vulnerable areas, thereby creating a new category of “fake pokies free venues” across NSW which
are still profiting from pokies gambling harm. Listen to Gambling Minister Paul Toole fudge this issue
on ABC radio last week.

# The combination of easier club mergers, reduced forfeiture requirements, leasing deals and a
reduction in the percentage of the population rated as being in the most at risk areas to only 20%,
means it will now be easier for the industry to inflict even faster increases in gambling losses by
shifting machines from low impact areas to their more profitable suburbs and towns.

“The experience of the past 8 days demonstrates once again that the pokies industry has completely
captured the two major political parties in NSW, effectively putting the fox in charge of the hen
house by giving Clubs NSW with its $4 billion in annual pokies losses almost everything it wanted,”
Ms Keogh said.

“Councils like Fairfield already have more machines than the whole of Tasmania and close to $500
million a year in annual losses, which is more than two-thirds of total losses in the whole of South
Australia.”

“This is just business as usual from the state with the worst pokies plague of any Australian
jurisdiction. How can the government and opposition keep ignoring the harm caused by annual
losses now exceeding $7 billion a year?”

The Alliance’s lead spokesman and director Tim Costello wrote to all major party lower house MPs
on Tuesday, requesting that the legislation not be rushed through the lower house so that impacted
parties such as councils, those harmed by gambling and civil society groups could have time to
engage with the political process.

“The captured NSW politicians ignored this request for time and engagement, instead debating the
legislation on Tuesday night in the lower house (starts p42 of Hansard) and then ramming it through
both houses yesterday, culminating in a brutal late night debate which disrespected those with a
lived experience of gambling harm,” Mr Costello said.

The Alliance was particularly concerned by the comments (8.50pm) of Liberal upper house MP Peter
Phelps last night who dismissed all of our concerns and declared those wanting to reduce world
record levels of gambling harm in NSW as members of “an axis of wowser”, who were “moral
puritans” driven by “class antagonism” and wanted gambling prohibited.

“There was considerable public discussion and media debate on this notorious do nothing legislation
so it was incredibly disrespectful to the victims of gambling harm to proceed with indecent haste and
insults, ultimately passing these laws shortly before midnight on a Wednesday night after just 8 days
of public discussion,” Mr Costello said.

“The legislation is totally unacceptable, represents complete pokies industry capture and should
have been rejected outright. We need to instead look at a public health approach to reducing
gambling harm and treating the gambling industry like the tobacco industry.”

“The NSW government had no specific mandate to amend 16 different pieces of legislation like this
and should have delayed the whole process until after the 2019 NSW election, so the community
could have a say on whether NSW should continue on as the most pokies-soaked jurisdiction in the
world after Las Vegas and Macau.”

The Alliance will now be redoubling its reform efforts in NSW, with the number one priority being
the release of major party gambling policies over the next 12 months which embrace reform and do
not involve any more notorious MOU agreements with Clubs NSW or the AHA.

The Alliance believes there are a raft of reforms which should have been implemented during this
so-called “biggest regulatory shake up in 10 years” and will now be pursued through engagement
with the major parties leading up to the 2019 state election. These include:

# Significant machine re-design lowering Australia’s only state-based $10 maximum bet, unlimited
cash withdrawals from ATMs and the ability to load a maximum of $7500 onto a machine;
# A significant reduction in machine numbers which are currently sitting at 95,000, representing
almost 10% of the world’s high-intensity poker machines;

# Limiting the types of organisations that can operate poker machines on behalf of the NSW
Government by excluding registered political parties (ie Randwick Labor Club) and churches (ie
Liverpool Catholic Club);

# Introducing a blanket ban on political donations by any venue or peak body which is operating or
benefitting from poker machines licenced by the NSW Government. At the moment clubs can
donate whereas hotels and casinos cannot;

# Lifting the lowest pokies tax rates in Australia, particularly for clubs, which do a majority of the
harm and, based on recent media reports, have more money than they know what to do with.
# Setting a maximum annual loss rate of $5 billion and actively reducing the 95,000 poker machines
in 2600 NSW pokies venues until that has been achieved.

# Properly implementing smoking bans in NSW pokies venues which have the slackest rules in
Australia, thereby inflicting significant passive smoking harm on staff and customers in venues;
# Implementing policies which reverse the Government’s forecast of surging pokies tax revenues due
to its failure to properly regulate a lethal industry;

Background documents …
Government response to LIA review: https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/Documents/about-us/media/cp5244-review-of-the-local-impact-assessment-review-report-response-recommendations.pdf

Alliance submission to NSW LIA review: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/gx/pages/279/attachments/original/1499729368/NSW_LIA_submission_release.pdf?1499729368

NSW projecting rising pokies losses in 2017 budget: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/gx/pages/279/attachments/original/1497939897/NSW_2017_budget_Alliance_release.pdf?1497939897

World record losses – time for NSW to take action: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/gx/pages/279/attachments/original/1512446975/National_gambling_losses_media_release_30529_.pdf?1512446975
Stephen Mayne Communications Advisor, Alliance for Gambling Reform www.pokiesplayyou.org.au