The testimony by the chair of the Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission, Jenny Cranston, that the Tasmanian Government’s gambling reforms will be worse than no reform at all is a shocking indictment of the State Government. Moreover that interstate regulators were looking to Tasmania for leadership on a cashless pre-commitment card for poker machines, and that the State Government reneged on their promise to implement such a scheme, just goes to show that they don’t give a damn about gambling harm nor Tasmania’s standing in the Commonwealth.
I think many Tasmanians will be quite distressed to have also learned today that the card was fully designed and only needed a signature and funding to make it happen. In other words, the experts and bureaucrats got stuck in and did what was asked of them, but a politician was too weak to take the small final step. No wonder the community has had a gutful of the political class.
The only thing the gambling industry cares about is harvesting money, often from the most disadvantaged members of the community and people with a gambling addiction. And the only thing the State Government cares about is kowtowing to the industry. Frankly the whole lot of them couldn’t spell “public interest” let alone recognise it if it was staring them in the face.