SYDNEY -- The Australian government has watered down a national gambling strategy, according to members of the committee that developed it, according to a report in The Age.
Three members of the committee, the National Advisory Body on Gambling, including prominent anti-gambling advocate the Rev Tim Costello, have threatened to quit.
In a letter to Famiy Services Minister Amanda Vanstone, Costello, Diane Gibson from Relationships Australia and Chris Jones from Anglicare, Tasmania, say: "The Commonwealth has thrown away the high moral ground occupied by your Prime Minister and the Treasurer."
The government-appointed members have accused Vanstone of pandering to the gambling industry in the development of a draft action plan to help problem gamblers. The federal government established the committee in April 2001 after the Productivity Commission report on gambling. Community and industry representatives approved the plan last month after more than a year's work, but the approval process had stopped suddenly after industry lobbying, Costello said. Included in the draft plan is a federal government commitment to work with the Australian states toward restrictions on ATMs in gaming rooms. Other proposals include: a national cap on poker machine numbers; limits on advertising and access to cash, and uniform poker machine design; limits to light and sound effects of machines; restricted reel spin speed and hourly loss rate; $10 maximum bets; a ban on note acceptors; and community input into location and conditions of gambling venues. National standards would force the states to act and help problem gamblers by restraining the worst excesses of the industry, Costello said. The head of the Australian Gaming Council, Vikki Flannery, denied the committee had agreed to the strategy. She would not discuss the industry's concerns with the plan, which she said was a confidential document.
