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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 191 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 24 March 2022 by Mr H.T. Jones

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

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.