Labor's proposal to cut poker machine numbers in the ACT without installing a central monitoring system is sabotaging a good harm-reduction policy the government can adopt even faster than first thought, the Greens Gaming Minister says.
Shane Rattenbury said the government was stalling on adopting the best harm-reduction system and ACT Labor was "impossibly compromised" by its links to poker machine revenue through the ACT Labor clubs.
"I think people see this as a deliberate political attempt to sabotage the reform that's currently being developed," Mr Rattenbury said of Labor's policy in a budget estimates hearing on Friday.
Mr Rattenbury said: "I would go so far as to say that my cabinet paper has been given a go-slow treatment."
But Labor's spokeswoman on gaming, Marisa Paterson, said Canberrans had the right to be disappointed in what Mr Rattenbury had delivered in this term in the gaming portfolio.
"The Greens leader continues to demonstrate a shameful lack of transparency regarding the cost of a central monitoring system (CMS), and what it is designed to achieve," Dr Paterson said.
"Canberrans have a right to know how much the system will cost, and how a CMS can work alongside the reduction of the number of machines in the territory for decades to come."
Dr Paterson asked Mr Rattenbury why Canberra needed a "very, very expensive central monitoring system if you can't articulate what harm you're trying to address"?
Mr Rattenbury said he was trying to address the harm in the ACT associated with between $100 million and $180 million lost each year on poker machines in the territory.
"Now that ripples through families, it ripples through communities, it ripples through workplaces, where we see fraud by staff who are trying to pay for their gambling arms," he said.
"You talk about [central monitoring] being expensive. It is not expensive compared to the losses that are going in this community every single year.
"And the best advice I am receiving is that putting in place a system that'll allow for player card gaming with loss limits attached to it will be highly effective in reducing gambling harm."
Dr Paterson also pressed Mr Rattenbury in estimates to reveal the expected costs and detail from the market sounding of the system, which would link all poker machines operating in the ACT and allow the government to set loss limits across all venues.
Mr Rattenbury told estimates releasing the market sounding information would risk undermining any future procurement processes.
The Gaming Minister had previously told the Legislative Assembly the process revealed the estimated cost of a central monitoring system was about half the figure previously estimated.
The Canberra Times has previously reported the scheme, which would allow for gambling loss limits linked across venues, would cost about $70 million.
Labor and the Greens have been split on the issue of a central monitoring system, with Labor touting a policy to introduce venue specific gambling accounts and reduce the number of poker machines in the territory to 1000 machines by 2045.
Labor is concerned the cost of a central monitoring system would lock in a higher number of poker machines for longer.
Dr Paterson said ACT Labor's comprehensive plan would address gambling harm by introducing cashless gaming in all venues.
"ACT Labor will work with the clubs to see a 20 year a transition away from a reliance on poker machine revenue, to see a thriving, sustainable club sector in the ACT," she told The Canberra Times.
"I'm calling on the minister to release the full market sounding of the CMS in the best interests of the Canberra community."
