PERTH CASINO ROYAL
COMMISSION — FINAL REPORT
191. Mr H.T. JONES to the Minister for Racing and Gaming:
I refer to the decisive action taken
by the McGowan Labor government in establishing a royal commission into Crown
Perth's operations and the tabling today of the Perth Casino Royal
Commission: Final report. Can the minister
advise the house of the immediate action the government is taking in response
to the findings of the Perth Casino
Royal Commission's final report, including maintaining its strong
commitment to ban poker machines in Western Australia?
Dr A.D. BUTI replied:
I thank the very good member for
Darling Range for his question.
As we all know, the final report of
the Perth Casino Royal Commission was tabled this morning. It is very
comprehensive. I start by thanking the outstanding work of the commissioners—former
Supreme Court Justices Neville Owen, who was the chair, and Hon Lindy Jenkins;
and Mr Colin Murphy, a former Auditor General—who did an outstanding job
in compiling this nearly 1 000-page report.
Calling a royal commission is not a decision
that governments make lightly. It was a very considered decision of this
government. When a royal commission is called, it is an inquiry into matters of
public importance. This royal commission has shone a light on some of the
issues surrounding the Perth casino, and today we have the report. We will be
responding to and acting on the recommendations in this report. As a first step
towards a much wider reform package, we will
amend legislation. That will be brought to the house soon. We will also appoint
new members to the Gaming and Wagering Commission and an independent
monitor to oversee the remediation by Crown. More steps will take place after
we have examined each of the recommendations in greater detail.
However, there is one recommendation
in the report that I want to address. The report recommends that the government
consider whether the statutory prohibition against poker machines should be
maintained. I want to make this very clear: the McGowan government will not be
weakening that prohibition; that prohibition on poker machines will remain. It
is because of that strict prohibition on poker machines that we are the envy of
the nation. The scale of social problems for
problem gamblers in Western Australia is nowhere near as severe as it is for
those in the eastern states. There is a problem—obviously there
is a problem—but it is much more severe in the eastern states.
I make very clear that the McGowan
government will not allow poker machines to operate in Western Australia. I also make clear that electronic gaming machines
will operate only at the Perth casino. We will ask the Gaming and
Wagering Commission to look at the issue of electronic gaming machines to see
whether they can be played in a manner that reduces possible social harm from
excessive gambling, but those matters will be considered very carefully. I reiterate
that there has been a bipartisan approach to this, and I hope that will be
maintained. I worry about that, because the opposition opposes everything.
Since the last state election in March 2021, the opposition has opposed
everything. It opposes every good measure of this government. It finds some
reason to oppose them. It was quite amazing when, two days ago, the Deputy
Leader of the Nationals WA complained that we were rolling out free rapid antigen tests. That is incredible.
The Nationals WA is the sectarian agrarian socialist party that believes
that the government should support everyone —
Point of Order
Mr P.J.
RUNDLE: I refer to standing order 75 and relevance. I think the
minister has strayed well off the topic.
The
SPEAKER: There is no point of order. You may not like or agree with
what the minister is saying, but there is no point of order.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Dr A.D. BUTI: I dearly hope
that the bipartisanship that has been shown on the prohibition of poker
machines in Western Australia remains. As I just mentioned, I worry because
members on the other side oppose everything. It was quite interesting that the
member for Moore, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, complained that we were
distributing free RATs to the population of Western Australia when the
Nationals have rats in their own ranks—the member for North West Central!
Maybe that was why he did not want more RATs to be distributed.
The SPEAKER: Minister, thank
you! That concludes that question.