Monday, October 16, 2006

STEVE Bracks's keenly awaited pokies policy was effectively stillborn on the
eve of its planned release earlier this year, when Opposition Leader Ted
Baillieu grasped the initiative with a pledge to cut 5500 machines. It's not
that Baillieu's policy was without flaws; for one thing it was uncosted. It
also allowed for the removal in 2012 of idle poker machines gathering dust
in the corners of gaming dens while more damaging machines remained in
service. But it meant the Government had to sit on its policy in case it
seemed inconsequential incomparison. Finally this week Bracks and Gaming
Minister John Pandazopoulos wheeled out their policy to extend regional caps
on poker machine numbers. And inconsequential it was. There were some minor
new curbs on an industry that rips more than $2.5 billion from the pockets
of Victorians each year. The Government got serious at last about ATMs in
gambling venues, restricting them to dispensing $400 a day per person. And
the maximum bet was reduced from $10 to $5. But according to former pokies
addict and People Power candidate Gabi Byrne, this still allows a gambler to
lose $120 a minute. The great shame about the policy is that it makes clear
that while the Bracks Government has grasped the significance of problem
gambling - there's a large boost for treatment services - it's not willing
to take the hard decisions that will seriously reduce the effect of poker
machines in the state. The much vaunted extension of the regional caps -
designed to force pokies from poorer areas into wealthier ones - was
underwhelming when the number of machines involved, 540, was less than
one-third of that recommended by the Government's backbench committee. And
the machines were being moved rather than being taken out of service. It's
clear that revenue concerns were behind this decision, but the Premier and
Pandazopoulos played dumb when asked about the effect of both options on the
budget. They refused to say exactly what repercussions the policy would have
on the $1 billion the state takes from taxes on poker machines each year,
even though it's a near certainty they would have been given a detailed
briefing on this.

That the central elements of both parties' policies are uncosted - although
external estimates put the cost of the Liberal plan at $200million a year -
doesn't augur well for sensible policy formation in the coming election.
Labor has drafted its pokies policy against a backdrop of bulging government
coffers. Treasurer John Brumby recently revealed the surplus to June this
year was expected to be $825 million, almost double the previous estimate in
May.

If the Government cannot reduce the prevalence of this pernicious form of
gambling and reduce our reliance on pokies taxes in a period of economic
sunshine, when will it be able to?

To describe poker machines as entertainment that adds some value to people's
lives defies credibility. Even though anyone can grasp the mathematical
reality that if you play pokies long enough you will lose - any wins or
jackpots are simply a temporary deviation from the eventual loss - people
continue to play the machines.

And too often those who play them are those who can least afford to, so they
have become a form of taxation on the needy.

Sadly, it's an arrangement the Government seems perfectly comfortable
maintaining. There was no talk from the Government this week of changing
this situation and finding alternative and more equitable sources of
revenue. There were lots of nice words in the policy documents about the
dangers of problem gambling and an apparent recognition of the knock-on
effects in terms of crime, welfare dependence and absenteeism, as well as
the human cost of broken families, marriages and lives.