Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, I seek leave to move a motion without notice for the purpose of moving the suspension of Standing Orders to debate the following motion –
That the House orders the Premier to table the report provided by MaxGaming regarding the implementation of mandatory precommitment cards for poker machines by 5 p.m. on Thursday 21 November.
On the seeking of leave, the government made a massive policy reversal yesterday and has set a course to abandon mandatory precommitment cards that will entrench poverty and harm in Tasmania. We spent yesterday debating the deceit around the decision the Government has taken and the harm it will cause Tasmanians. The government argued it was based on evidence from the MaxGaming report. They refused to make that report public yesterday despite our repeated requests, I understand from the media. The public has a right to understand the reason.
We recognise that the Labor Party has a position ostensibly the same as the Liberals on this matter. Both parties are committed to the interests of the pokies industry first and foremost. However, this is a question of transparency. We hope the Labor Party, along with other members of the crossbench, will recognise that this is about providing the information to Tasmanians that the government has used to justify this massive policy change.
We are seeking leave to debate this motion today. It is not our expectation that this will be a long debate. We do not intend to hold up the House on this. We think it is a pretty simple matter of transparency, so it is our intention to have a short debate.
