[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] The Australian Democrats have
proposed an alternative to the Federal
Government online gambling moratorium, labelling the proposed 12 month
ban as ineffective.
“The Bill does not protect Australians from a casino in every lounge room
and it does not address the real issue of problem gambling,” said Democrats
Senator Natasha Stott Despoja.
But the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts,
Senator Richard Alston, has reacted to the new proposal by stating that “the
Democrats half-baked e-solution is no solution.”
While Senator Alston welcomed the “belated acknowledgement” by the
Democrats that there should be a moratorium with a view to a longer term
solution, he said the solution represented “little more than window
dressing.”
“Today’s half-baked and dramatically almost incomprehensible press
release from the Democrats foreshadows an approach that would leave a gaping
hole for all actual and potential operators to go flat out to establish
themselves in the online marketplace,” he said.
The Federal Government has attempted to put in place a one year
moratorium while it investigates the possibility of extending a full ban on
online gambling, however Senator Stott Despoja said the Government had “once
again failed to understand how the Internet works.”
The moratorium would prevent all new online gambling licences being
issued and existing ones from being renewed.
“The Government’s objective is to investigate the feasibility of a ban on
Australian Internet gambling,” she said. “The online services debate and the
Senate ‘NetBets’ inquiry has shown that a ban is not effective.
The Democrats will support a three-month non-retrospective moratorium to
enable the States to establish a minimum uniform set of national regulatory
principles for interactive gaming in Australia.
Like the Federal Government, the moratorium will be effective to all new
licences from the commencement of the moratorium and existing licences upon
renewal, and extend to all wagering and gaming services.
The Democrats have proposed the agreement should include a national
public education campaign on the Australian regulation and harm minimization
of Internet gambling.
“The Democrats also recommend that a public education campaign be
supported by an appropriate percentage of gambling revenues from Australian
licensees to a centralized fund”, concluded Senator Stott Despoja.
The Internet Industry Association
(IIA) has welcomed the proposed Democrat amendments to the online gambling
moratorium legislation as “a sensible way forward that will break the
impasse between the Commonwealth and the States and also encourage the
development of a uniform approach to meet the needs of community.”
The industry body’s executive director, Peter Coroneos said while the IIA
did not necessarily condone gambling, the existing bill before the Senate
was flawed because it “denies the fact that Australians, even within a
moratorium period, will still be able to access unregulated sites
overseas.”
In that respect, it would actually achieve a contrary result to its
stated objectives,” he said. “On the other hand, if the legislation is
amended in the manner proposed, we anticipate that the States will move
quickly to develop consistent uniform guidelines which will position
Australian operations as the best regulated anywhere in the world.”
