Finocchiaro reveals plan to tackle NT’s gambling problem

Lia Finocchiaro has revealed her party’s first move to tackling gambling addiction and has also taken swipe at the Territory government in the process. Read what she will “push” the federal government for.

Lia Finocchiaro has accused the government of putting its “ideology” ahead of curbing the gambling addiction of Territorians.

The accusation comes after the government released gambling statistics which revealed Territorians lost more than $150 million to poker machines the past financial year.

Of that amount, more than $20 million was lost to remote communities, drawing the ire of Alliance of Gambling chief advocate Tim Costello who described the figures as “an abject failure” by the government.

On Wednesday, Ms Finocchiaro told the NT News that income management - a tool designed to budget welfare payments - would limit addiction.

“Territory Labor continues to fail Territorians by ignoring the fact that addiction has to be treated, and whether it’s gambling or alcohol addiction, its clear Labor is more interested in supply than demand,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

“Income management is an important way to limit people feeding their addiction but Labor allows its ideology to stop it from doing what is right.”

Ms Finocchiaro said her government, if elected, would “push” the federal government to introduce income management.

“(What) we’ve seen (is) gambling continue to destroy people’s lives because there isn’t that safety net when it comes to income management – this is a key issue we will be pushing the federal government on,” she said.

“But equally, at a Territory level there is so much more than can be done to address the root cause of gambling addiction and that’s through supportive treatment, much like our alcohol.”

Ms Lawler said her government was reducing the number of gaming machines to combat the addiction’s toll.

“Our government is aware that problem gambling creates a significant public health risk to communities across the NT, and that’s why we are reducing the availability of gaming machines,” she said.

“The CLP abandoned the cap on gaming machines, enabling a 56 per cent spike in numbers.

“We reinstated the cap and have now lowered it three times since coming to government in 2016, with close to 200 machines removed from the pool.”

Ms Lawler said her government had provided funding to community organisations and gambling research grants in addition to promoting “responsible gambling”.

“We continue to promote responsible gambling and provide ongoing funding for research as well as community-based support services.

“Additionally, the Territory Labor government funds a range of community organisations to provide support services, as well and gambling research grants.”

Originally published as Finocchiaro reveals plan to tackle NT’s gambling problem