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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-10 Daily Xml
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GAMING MACHINES

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Gambling a question about gaming machines.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Yesterday, the minister gave me a response to a question about the notion of mandatory precommitment in regard to the use of gaming machines which, at the end of the day, told us very little about his position. However, I advise the chamber that the former minister for gambling (Hon. Tom Koutsantonis) was reported in The Australian on 2 February as saying that he would not make precommitment mandatory and that he favoured voluntary precommitment. My question to the minister—and a simple yes or no answer will suffice—is: will he also adopt his factional colleague's position, which favours voluntary precommitment? Yes or no?

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Gambling) (15:25): Again, I refer the honourable member to what I said in the council yesterday. It is very important that the state carefully consider anything that the commonwealth chooses to propose in relation to gaming machine reform and, in particular, to any requirement that there be precommitment by gamblers using gaming machines. That is a matter that needs to be considered carefully and, indeed, holistically and based on the evidence.

As I indicated yesterday, it is very important that there be an evidence-based approach to considering gaming machines and whether or not there ought to be precommitment for them. So, I am certainly not going to give some sort of off-the-cuff response about what I consider about it. What I will do is to have a look at the evidence and what the commonwealth proposes, if anything, and then the government will come to a decision about its position in due course.

I know that my predecessor in this portfolio (the member for West Torrens in the other place) also wants to see an evidence-based approach. He favours a system that ensures that any measures taken to address problem gambling are based on evidence and on what will work in helping problem gamblers not to gamble.

Again, I simply refer the honourable member to what I had to say. I will be considering that matter, along with anything the commonwealth has to put in due course, and the government will come to a position at that time which will be based on evidence and based on the best needs of the South Australian community.

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