Exasperation as pokies amendments fail

Adam Holmes | Examiner | 23 November 2021    

Equal tax rates for pokies and Keno across casinos, pubs and clubs, assessing the risks of simulated racing and automated table gaming, and parliamentary oversight of new casino licenses are just some of the amendments the Liberals and Labor have knocked back so far.

Debate on the government’s gaming reform bill is continuing in the Legislative Council, where members grew increasingly exasperated on Monday at the major parties’ refusal to have tax rates subject to additional parliamentary scrutiny.

Poker machines are currently taxed at 25.88 per cent across all venues, but the bill proposes to reduce this to 10.91 per cent in Federal Group casinos and increase it to 33.91 per cent for pubs and clubs.

Keno is proposed to be taxed at 0.9 per cent in Federal Group casinos, but 20.31 per cent in pubs and clubs.

Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb said this would provide Federal Group with a $248 million tax cut over the life of the licenses.

All six independent MLCs and outgoing Labor MLC Bastian Seidel voted to have the tax rate issue examined in the lower house, but the Liberals and Labor combined to tie the vote at 7-7, meaning it was defeated.

Murchison independent MLC Ruth Forrest said the foregone tax income from Federal Group meant less money for public services in Tasmania.

 “The state is being done over, and the state is the people of Tasmania,” she said.

“I cannot see how anyone can support this as it stands, and every member in this place should support it going back to the House of Assembly for the government to consider more fully and provide real explanations.”

Hobart independent MLC Rob Valentine said they had no access to “modelling” relied upon by the government in reaching the tax rates.

“You can’t do these comparisons in two minutes, you can’t,” he said.

“I thought we really operated on an equitable basis in most things that we do in this chamber, and I would hope that we still can do that.

“I would hope that the government can see that this is not equitable, or if it is equitable, then explain to us why it’s equitable. I think everybody wants to see that.”

Government leader in the Legislative Council, Leonie Hiscutt, said the tax rates would be a net positive for the state.

“While there are decreases in some taxation lines, there are increases on others with a total package delivering an additional $8.5 million to the state,” she said.

Other amendments that the Liberals and Labor have combined to defeat include making the Gaming Commission consider all harm minimisation methods, not just card-based pre-commitment and facial recognition.

They voted to block a move to give councils the ability to have the Commission determine a maximum number of poker machines for a local government area, and for the Commission to consider “community interest” when increasing machines at a venue or transferring machines.

However, the Liberals and Labor did support adding an explicit reference to a “public health approach” in the Gaming Act, legislated whistleblower protections in the industry and fixed all venue licenses to end on July 1, 2043.

See more of Meg’s recent media.

See more on Pokies Reform