Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, how much longer in this debate?
The SPEAKER – You have time to do your five-minute contribution.
Mr BAYLEY – There is clearly a justification for the Suspension of Standing Orders in this case and it is utterly urgent to debate this motion. As the member for Franklin said, there is no more significant issue than confidence in a premier and that is not necessarily the confidence of this House, that is the confidence of the Tasmanian people. What has been revealed today is that we and the people cannot have confidence in the Premier.
I will start with the words of his former deputy in a talking point on this very issue about mandatory precommitment cards. He said:
Tasmania is at a political and moral crossroads. With the THA trying to stop our promised pokies reform, the integrity and backbone of every MP is under pressure.
That is absolutely the case. The integrity and backbone of us as MPs is under pressure here because this government, this premier and others, have made solid and regular commitments about this pre‑commitment card, starting with its response to the Tasmania Liquor and Gaming Commission’s report which recommended this pre-commitment card. The government said that it would mandate pre-commitment features as an essential part of the pre-commitment card framework and agreed that it would have the most impact on minimising gambling harm and accepted the system functionally, including the concurrent default loss limits proposed by the commission.
The SPEAKER – Mr Bayley, I have drawn everyone else to the urgency motion and I will do so with you.
Mr BAYLEY – That is the government’s position, but I come to that because this is the first opportunity we have had to debate this issue because it was only this morning that we had a statement from the government that they are clearly walking away from the pre-commitment card. It says that, ‘A range of harm minimisation measures will be progressed’ – that has been said for a long time – ‘… while the government defers progress on a mandatory pre-commitment card’.
We have had fears for a long time that they were going to delay a pre-commitment card to death, but what we are seeing today is the death of this card. It is clear that this premier and this government is going to look to other jurisdictions and let them take the lead, when Tasmania, at one point, had the opportunity to lead ground-breaking reform on this issue across the country.
We know this industry is doing harm to people across the country. We know there are incredibly powerful sectors all around the country and we had an opportunity to lead not only the country, but in many ways the world on how this is going to happen, but when it comes to today’s statement, that is simply not going to be the case.
The Premier, even today, kept referring to the fact that one statement aligns with another, but if you compare the pair that is completely not the case. On 16 February 2024 the Deputy Premier put out a statement that said –
Importantly, we also remain committed to harm minimisation and will implement a mandatory card-based gaming system for electronic gaming machines as soon as reasonably practicable.
That is a world away from, ‘The government defers progress on a mandatory precommitment card’, and this only came out an hour or two ago. That is why this is urgent. That is why we need to have a conversation about this.
It is not just us that I am worried about. We literally just agreed to Mr Street taking up the Deputy Speaker’s position. We have strong faith in Mr Street, but on questioning during Estimates on this very issue in relation to the government’s commitment to the pre-commitment card, Mr Street said to me:
I can sit here and look you in the eye and tell you that the government’s commitment to the precommitment gaming card has not changed.
It changed today.
This deception, these issues of mistrust, are not just with us as an opposition, or as a crossbench, it is not just with the Tasmanian people, but we know it sits deep in the heart of the Cabinet and we know it sits deep in the heart of the government as well. That is why it is critically important that we take the time to debate this motion today and test the confidence of this Premier on the floor of this parliament. Thank you.
