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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-18 Daily Xml
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INDEPENDENT GAMBLING AUTHORITY CODE OF PRACTICE REVIEW

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Gambling a question on the process of the public consultation for the Independent Gambling Authority's advertising and responsible gambling code review.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I note that recently there were nine submissions to the Independent Gambling Authority's (IGA) code of practice review into the advertising and responsible gambling code. Of these, all but one—that is, eight out of the nine—were from the gambling industry itself, those with a vested financial interest in gambling.

The voice of those who work with problem gamblers and their families—the sole voice—was that of SACOSS. I was shocked and concerned that, when you read the SACOSS submission, it simply highlights the fact that they did not have the resources to make substantive comment, and they raised their ongoing concern that there is, in fact, a power imbalance between the industry and the NGOs representing those at the coalface of dealing with problematic gambling.

SACOSS's submission noted in its one page that, despite previous requests to this government, funding has simply not been made available to enable advocacy to represent the interests of those most vulnerable South Australians. My questions are: in light of this, is the minister confident that she is getting balanced input into gambling policy and, if not, has she undertaken to consult further with NGO stakeholders, and in what way will she seek to address this imbalance? To facilitate this, will the minister commit to providing funding to SACOSS to, in turn, resource their member groups from the sector to input the side of the story that actually presents the views of those who are affected by problem gambling, or is she happy with the stacked deck as it currently stands?

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister will disregard the opinion in the question and also the question asking the honourable minister for opinion.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (15:53): Thank you, Mr President, and I thank the honourable member for her question. There is just really no pleasing the Greens, is there? There is just no pleasing them at all. We have an Independent Gambling Authority that is at arm's length from government, so it really has the independence that it needs to conduct itself. It has introduced mandatory advertising and responsible gambling codes of practice for all gambling providers, and there is a process for reviewing those.

The review process involves a very open, transparent and public consultation, and I am absolutely confident that, if any group had needed an extension of time, it would have been granted. Sometimes organisations want the ability to provide comprehensive answers, and putting these responses together can be quite time consuming and resource intensive, but to suggest that somehow the government is manipulating the public in a way to prevent a balanced input into the code of conduct is absolutely outrageous. It is just wacky stuff, completely wacky stuff.

As I said, the IGA is independent of government, and if they were not the Greens would be squealing first. If there was any ministerial or government interference, you could imagine what the Greens would be doing. It is just outrageous. It is a public process, it is in the hands of the IGA, and they are a very competent group of people. If any organisation needed further assistance or time, SACOSS is a pretty sophisticated group and has asked for extensions in the past and I am sure they would have the wherewithal to have approached the IGA and sought whatever assistance they needed.

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