Labor joins with Liberals to end Legislative Council scrutiny of pokies bill
Labor has been accused of “betraying the battlers of Tasmania” by voting to prevent further scrutiny of the government’s gambling reform legislation.
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CONTROVERSIAL gambling reforms look set to pass the Legislative Council in the coming days after Labor sided with the Liberals to defeat a bid for further scrutiny.
Finance Minister Michael Ferguson welcomed the result of the Tuesday night vote, saying referring the bill to a committee would have had no practical effect.
“That would have just been delaying the inevitable and preventing the parliament from actually doing its proper job, which is to consider the government’s legislation, which has already been to a parliamentary inquiry and two elections,” he said.
“We’re not prepared to move on policy. We’re prepared to look at sensible minor amendments, but we’ve actually got legislation which has been through parliamentary process through the House of Assembly.
"We’ve brought forward legislation which has already been the subject of significant scrutiny and public consultation process.”
The legislation will end Federal Group’s monopoly over the state’s poker machines and instead give licences to individual venues among other reforms.
The bill is likely to pass the Upper House with the support of the major parties.
Labor’s Josh Willie said the issue has been throughly canvassed.
“We went to the 2018 election with a significant reform proposal and we failed to get support,” he said.
“This is the government’s agenda. It’s quite clear that they’re not going to accept the recommendations of a committee or an inquiry.
“It’s quite clear that they’re not going to accept some of the proposals that will be put in the Legislative Council.
“If we support some of those where we’ll be facing another election, not about removing poker machines from communities, it will be about spin rates, betting limits and things that people don’t care to understand, to be honest.”
Independent MLC for Nelson Meg Webb said proper parliamentary scrutiny was critical for major reforms.
“We should be bringing all the parliamentary mechanisms to bear to make sure that this is the best deal for our state and delivers the best outcomes for our community,” she said.
“We’ve been blocked in doing that.
“Sending the bill to Public Accounts Committee would have been a very appropriate step to take and, unfortunately, that’s not going to happen and that’s incredibly disappointing for the Tasmanian community.”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor excoriated Labor for backing the government.
“We saw Rebecca White’s Labor Party bend over backwards again to suit the interests of the gambling industry. And she betrayed the battlers of Tasmania.
“The Tasmanian Hospitality Association didn’t want this bill to go to an inquiry. It’s not going to an inquiry because of Labor’s vote.”
Independent MLC for Mersey Mike Gaffney said the house of review should not be rushed in its work, partiuclarly on such important issues.
“I prefer to think that the Tasmanian Parliament would carefully consider all legislation, especially one that has implications for the next 20, 30 or 40 years,” he said.
“It’s so important that we get this right.”
Parties in ‘gut-wrenching fear’ of pokies barons
Members of Tasmania’s Upper House last night sat through what was labelled the Legislative Councils’ longest ever speech as debate surrounding gambling legislation went into the late hours of the evening.
The council heard major parties were doing the bidding of the pokies barons because of a “gut-wrenching fear” of their financial clout and ability to influence the outcome of elections, during a marathon seven-hour speech by Independent MLC Meg Webb.
The Upper House is considering the state government’s legislation to reform laws governing gambling in Tasmania.
Ms Webb said the inclusion of two harm minimisation measures in the legislation before the house was a sign both parties were beholden to the industry.
“The two parties have arrived at the two measures that they, I would say and suggest, that they are bound to by the relationships that they have with this industry — through political donations, through memorandums of understanding and through gut-wrenching fear that they both have should this industry decided to turn against them at a future election.
“They learned their lesson well in 2018, both of them.
“In fact, I’d suggest it’s not so much the benefit of financial support that sits at the heart of these two parties beholden to an industry.
“I’d suggest it’s the gut-wrenching fear that the financial weight of the industry will be thrown against them, again.”
Labor’s policy of removing poker machines from pubs and clubs promoted a surge in support for the Liberals from the industry during the 2018 election campaign which contributed heavily to their re-election.
Labor was criticised before the 2021 state election for signing a memorandum of understanding with the Tasmanian Hospitality Association.
Debate on the legislation was continuing.
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