Nelson MLC Meg Webb’s marathon six-and-a-half hour speech slams parties over pokies policy

Adam Holmes | Examiner/Advocate | 12 November 2021  

Over the course of a six-and-a-half-hour speech in the upper house, Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb has laid bare her years of research into Tasmanian poker machine policy to slam the two major parties over the reform bill.

From carefully tracing the history of pokies policy, to outlining concerns about how the Liberals and Labor landed on their chosen harm minimisation methods, the marathon speech was the culmination of a career in anti-pokies advocacy work.

Ms Webb foreshadowed a range of amendments she would move to the government’s bill in the upper house including on pokies license periods, taxation rates, the powers of the Liquor and Gaming Commission, and consumer protection.

She placed Tasmania in a global context, where the state – along with most others in Australia, apart from Western Australia – was the only place in the world where pokies harm was allowed to occur at such a scale.

The government and Labor have agreed to have the commission investigate card-based pre-commitment gaming, facial recognition and higher return rates, but Ms Webb said there was no reason why other harm minimisation could not be included.

She said $1 bet limits, slower spin speeds and lower jackpot amounts would only take “straightforward programming changes”, but they had not been considered by the government, which she claimed was due to the industry not wanting it.

“The TLGC has consistently identified that the most effective harm min measures would be $1 bet limits and slower spin speeds. The commission has never been allowed by any government to include those measures in the mandatory code,” Ms Webb said.

Ms Webb went back to 2017 when the Tasmanian Hospitality Association and Federal Group provided its model to a joint select committee at the last moment, giving the committee insufficient time to assess it.

This model formed the basis of the government’s ultimate policy to provide individual venue licenses for poker machines, ending Federal’s monopoly.

The government has repeatedly described Federal as a “loser” from the reforms – resulting in a significant tax break for its casino pokies – but Ms Webb said using such terms was insulting.

“We do not measure social policy in this state according to the bottom line of one private business. If we were to do so, we would be exposing ourselves as ultimately and utterly corrupt,” she said.

“How dare the government, how dare they frame Federal Group as a loser under this policy? We owe Federal Group nothing.

“Federal Group is a company that has been gifted for decades, for free, a license to operate poker machines in this state. It has been a river of gold for them.”

Ms Webb repeatedly reeled off questions for the government over the policy, ranging from why it would not take the pokies licenses to the open market, and why it had – at various stages – ignored advice from the Gaming Commission.

Debate continued on Thursday evening, and a vote to send it to a committee would likely take place next week.

The outcome of the vote would likely depend on Labor, but Elwick MLC Josh Willie this week spoke of his support for the bill.

Labor has foreshadowed sending the container deposit scheme bill to a committee, however.

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