PQ 12. Gambling—Harm Minimisation and Host Responsibility [Sitting date: 04 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:12. Text is subject to correction.]

12. DENISE ROCHE (Green) to the Minister of Internal Affairs : Is he doing enough to prevent problem gambling and ensure gambling venues comply with their host responsibility requirements given an Internal Affairs mystery shopper campaign found that 101 out of 102 venues failed a test regarding host responsibility?

Hon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Internal Affairs): Yes. Although the mystery shopper exercise has shown that improvement is needed to ensure gambling venues and casinos are fulfilling their host responsibilities regarding problem gamblers, I am generally satisfied with the work being done. There are a range of measures in place to improve practice to prevent problem gambling and improve host responsibility. For example, Department of Internal Affairs officials are reviewing the training that venue staff receive from the gaming machine societies to ensure that that training is effective. I should say in respect of the exercise that both the class 4 sector and casino operators have broadly accepted their need to improve on their host responsibility obligations and will be working closely with the Department of Internal Affairs to ensure this happens.

Denise Roche : Will he strengthen our gambling laws on host responsibility, given that compliance is so poor that the undercover operators used by the Department of Internal Affairs were able to go up to bar staff and beg for more money and then go back to gamble, with no intervention?

Hon PETER DUNNE : The Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2), which is currently on the Order Paper and making remarkably slow progress, makes some steps in this regard. There is a Gambling Amendment Bill (No 3) recently introduced to Parliament. I have also signalled that in the context of this rather fast-moving area of change a wider review of class 4 gaming societies may be in order.

Denise Roche : If the Minister is really serious, will he support our Green Party changes to the Gambling Amendment Bill (No 2) to introduce real-time player tracking and pre-commitment cards, given that these have been proven to reduce problem gambling overseas; if not, why not?

Hon PETER DUNNE : No, because there are a number of unfounded assumptions in the member’s question.

Denise Roche : Why, given the terrible record of compliance by gambling venues, is he making this situation worse with his bill, which will give venue operators a financial incentive to ignore problem gambling?

Hon PETER DUNNE : The legislation does no such thing. All the member does by making that sort of a comment in a question is demonstrate her lack of understanding of it.

ENDS

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