Submission to the Coalition’s Policy Discussion Paper on Gambling Reform
The St Vincent de Paul Society is a member of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce and has long highlighted the social costs of poker machine addiction. These costs include suicide, depression, relationship breakdown, lower work productivity, job losses, bankruptcy and crime. The Taskforce estimates the social cost to the country is around $4.7 billion annually1. The time for government intervention to address Australia’s gambling problem in the form of mandatory pre‐commitment policy is long overdue.
The Howard Government acknowledged the dangers of problem gambling when it established the first Ministerial Council on Gambling 12 years ago in the year 2000.2 Therefore the Society disagrees with the assertion in the Coalition’s Policy Discussion Paper on Gambling Reform that the mandatory pre‐commitment proposal has been thrust onto the agenda without adequate consultation stakeholders.