CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION (CHEATING AT GAMBLING) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:44): I will conclude my remarks in respect of this legislation and convey my hopeful expectation, with the advent of the ICAC Commissioner's appointment that was announced today, that the progress of that entity will be advanced. I think it will be an important tool in dealing with the issues of corruption in elite sport that have been so clearly outlined in the Australian Crime Commission's report.

Whilst this legislation was drafted and presented prior to the publication of that report, if there is any aspect of that report in respect of widespread, systemic corruption, as alleged, then South Australia will be touched by it and we will need to have an entity that is able to deal with it, in the event that there is any assertion that a person in public office may be involved. That is primarily because we have betting agencies under the control and responsibility of government, and supervised by legislation in this parliament. That, in my view, is going to be an important step.

With the Premier's announcement today of the appointment of the Hon. Justice Lander, I did note that his commission will not commence until 1 September. That is disappointing, to the extent that there is another six or seven months' delay before the Office of Public Integrity and the ICAC will effectively be operational under his stewardship. Nevertheless, his appointment is most welcome.

In conclusion, the opposition will support the passage of this bill. We do consider that there are some aspects that have reasonably been raised by the Law Society. We are concerned that the government did not pick up these issues when reviewing the New South Wales legislation. If there was a justifiable reason for providing the expanded offences under the proposed section 114l, that should have been explained in the second reading explanation. If they thought that a review was not appropriate after three years, as prescribed in the New South Wales act, some explanation should have been given. Nevertheless, they are matters we think are worthy of consideration and we hope that the government will take the same view.

With that contribution, I indicate that we will not be opposing the bill. In addition, we will not be seeking for the matter to go into committee on our side of the house. If the member for Mount Gambier wishes to make a contribution, I am sure that will be most welcome.

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (15:48): First of all, I should say that I do like to have a flutter on the horses occasionally and I own a few racehorses, so I think this bill is extremely important. The bill itself will bring some consistency into gambling and hopefully stop the cheating that does happen in gambling. Of course, nowadays, with the internet, etc., gambling has no borders in Australia, and there are also opportunities for people to gamble on sporting events and races in overseas countries. If we can bring in consistent rules right throughout the states of this nation we will go a long way to perhaps stopping some of the cheating.

I do agree with the set of six descriptions of behaviours that form the national consistency. I feel that these basically fix the problems where people who benefit from cheating at gambling and cheating in sporting events and those who actually do the cheating, those who benefit from it and those who are affected by it will all be brought to justice, so I support that initiative. I might say that as a nation, a lot of Australians do enjoy gambling, but one thing they do hate is cheating and, with national consistency and tighter rules, we hopefully can stop that cheating happening in sporting events and people will have much more surety of what is actually happening. So I will be supporting the bill.

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:50): I rise to express my support for this bill. In light of recent revelations surrounding professional Australian sport, it is both timely and necessary to speak on this bill. It is clear that match fixing and cheating at gambling is a serious issue that is being addressed by governments across the country.

In June of 2011, the Australian sports ministers signed Australia's first national policy on match fixing on behalf of their governments. Following this, in July 2011, the then Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) created a working group to develop an approach to criminal offences relating to match fixing that would be consistent on a national level.

In November 2011, at the Standing Council of Law and Justice (SCLJ) meeting, Attorneys-General strongly agreed to support the development of specific match-fixing offences with a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment. After several meetings of the SCLJ working group on match fixing, they had produced a set of guidelines to assist in developing match-fixing offences in each Australian jurisdiction. Further to this, they came up with a set of descriptions of match-fixing behaviours to form the basis of consistent criminal legislation.

Also in 2011, the New South Wales Law Reform Commission had undertaken significant research on cheating and gambling. Their report recognised that, although existing legislative arrangements varied, all states and territories agreed that their framework of existing offences, both at common law and in legislation, deal with the agreed match fixing behaviours in almost all circumstances. Despite existing legislative arrangements, the SCLG working group agreed that it was necessary to implement a specific legislation to maximise the prevention of match fixing, and that is what this bill will do, by:

providing clear signals to the public as to the criminal aspects of match-fixing behaviour;

clearly defining the reach (on the one hand) and the limits (on the other hand) of the behaviour determined to be criminal;

enabling law enforcement agencies and the courts to move more effectively in dealing with match-fixing behaviour through a clear set of offences; and

demonstrating a commitment by governments to addressing the issue of match fixing.

This bill plays a role in ensuring that professional sport in South Australia is something we can be proud of internationally, so that we will all have an opportunity to host World Cup cricket matches in the future. This bill is necessary to help repair the integrity of the Australian sport, not just in South Australia, but the whole nation.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Finance, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:54): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.