00:02Gaming reform advocates were disappointed when the Tasmanian government put plans to
00:07introduce a mandatory pre-commitment card for gambling on pokies on hold, and unimpressed
00:12when the government announced a new set of harm reduction measures at the start of this
00:17year.
00:17It doesn't make any sense what they are doing in terms of trying to justify this is going
00:22to save anyone in Tasmania when all it's going to do is cause more harm than good.
00:25It turns out, Tasmania's Gaming Commission, which hadn't been told about the new measures,
00:30agreed.
00:30In letters obtained under Right Information, the commission told Tasmanian Treasurer Eric
00:35Abetz the policies won't protect against gambling harm, but will have the opposite effect,
00:41and a new ticketing system would make it far easier to feed money into the machines, worsening
00:46gambling losses.
00:48Mr Abetz responded that the commission should consider the package as a whole.
00:52The whole package of reforms includes allowing ATMs in venues, requiring cash to be converted
00:58into tickets without a limit on tickets, facial recognition for the self-exclusion scheme, reduced
01:05late night opening hours and industry-appointed gaming care offices.
01:09The commission had concerns about how each element had been designed.
01:14The only place these policies have come from is from the industry itself and this follows
01:18on what we know is the historical practice of the pokies industry in Tasmania writing its
01:23own policy, writing its own regulation.
01:25I would reject the assertion that they are gambling industry-friendly.
01:29I think that we have got the balance right.
01:31They are specifically harm minimisation measures, they are specifically harm minimisation reforms
01:37by definition.
01:38Despite its opposition to the measures, the Gaming Commission must now implement them over
01:43the next two years after being directed to by the Treasurer.
01:46And while crossbenchers are concerned, Labor's support for the measures means political pressure
01:51can only go so far.
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