Overview
The Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce brings together leaders of the major Christian churches in Australia and the heads of their social services arms nationally. Established in early 2011, the Taskforce is united by a commitment to reduce the harm caused by poker machine gambling.
Australian churches have a long, proud history of social services provision. We welcome the current, historic opportunity for poker machine reform, the culmination of years of research, policy development and advocacy. Our members are ongoing contributors to the debate, notably through the Productivity Commission reports of 1999 and 2010. This is well trodden ground for us all.
Objectives
The Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce supports:
- the adoption of a national mandatory pre commitment scheme that requires gamblers in all electronic gaming venues to set spending limits on high impact (high loss) poker machines
- $1 maximum bets on all machines which limit losses to $120 an hour
- reduced access to cash in gambling venues as a measure to reduce the opportunity for unplanned expenditure on gambling
- restrictions on online gambling, including wagering and gaming
- Improving other consumer protection measures as agreed by the Taskforce
People who provide counselling for problem gamblers rightly focus on the individuals they are working with. The priority is to help individuals and families turn their lives around. There are very few voices focusing on the broader public policy issues such as consumer protection. Poker machine gambling is a risk for around a third of regular users. Prevention is the focus of good public policy with measures in place to help people who fall through the safety net. The Taskforce has no political agenda. We stand in solidarity on the issue of poker machine reform because someone has to tell this story.
Background on Reform
The minority Federal Government is in place partly as a result of the support of Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie. Under the Wilkie Gillard agreement, the Government must pass legislation by May next year that requires all players on high loss poker machines to set limits ahead of time on the amount they are willing to lose.
This is a historic and rare opportunity to make changes that will help people addicted to poker machines to help themselves and to prevent many others from developing a problem.
Opposition to the reforms is fuelled by the self interested poker machine industry. They are running an aggressive, misleading campaign focusing on NSW and Queensland where most of the profits are made.
Download a document detailing the ACGT, its aims and members here: About the ACGT
