Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn on Gambling Reform

Posted on January 25, 2012 
Filed under Local

Stuart Robinson, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn, has circulated this letter to his clergy –

“Australians need a Government that has the courage to pursue hard decisions…”

“Much of the media coverage this week has focused on the politics of the Government’s decision to sever their deal with Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie.

Trust is certainly an important factor in leadership, but we must not forget that the Government’s job is to regulate the gambling industry to limit its impact on families and communities devastated by gambling addiction. 

On this scale of analysis, there are some bright spots in what the Gillard Government announced this week.

The Government should be congratulated for their commitment to introduce “a $250 daily withdrawal limit from ATMs in gaming venues (excluding casinos) by 1 February 2013” and “Electronic warnings and cost of play displays on poker machines by 2016”

Over the past year one criticism of the Government is that their focus on poker machines ignored the growing problems around online betting. So another welcome aspect of the package is that Government will extend pre-commitment to online betting services.

Nevertheless what the public debate often ignores is that the old “one armed bandit” is dead. I am advised that the modern poker machine is a sophisticated piece of computer technology designed to maximize revenue by nurturing addiction. This scenario does demands a counter-technology that will help protect the  most vulnerable.

Australians need a Government that has the courage to pursue hard decisions that will benefit… the whole society. For gambling reform, this path would lead to real action on the Productivity Commission’s two key recommendations: a trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology and $1 bet limits.

Many Anglicans are rightly disheartened that both sides of politics have stepped away from this level of comprehensive reform of the gambling industry in Australia.

The Gillard Government rejected the $1 bet limit proposal from the beginning. Yet the Commission has pointed out that there are so-called high intensity poker machines which encourage people to lose scandalously high amounts of money in a short period of time as they chase their losses. As a result, the Commission recommends that all machines have a $1 bet limit, with $20 restrictions on the amount a player could feed into the machine. This would bring average losses per machine to $120 for an hour.

With the Liberals appearing to be less than enthused by both the Commission’s key recommendations, Anglicans and other people of faith who believe that gambling reform is long overdue must make this a matter of prayer and correspondence with their elected representatives in Government.

+Stuart C & G.

25.01.12. ”