The Hon. Nick Xenophon, MLC ‘No pokies’ member of South Australian Parliament

Nick Xenophon was elected to the Legislative Council of the Parliament of South Australia in 1997 as an Independent Member. He is part of a campaign against the social and economic havoc caused by the uncontrolled explosion of poker machines in the hotels and entertainment arenas of South Australia. Following is an excerpt of the Hon. Nick Xenophon’s maiden speech to the Parliament on 4 December 1997:

‘Before I tell the Council how I became involved with this issue, I should explain why I am here, effectively as an Independent member, because the ‘No pokies’ campaign is not a political party: it is a community association. I am acutely aware that an Independent has not sat in this Chamber in this century. For a number of years my philosophy in relation to joining a political party has been heavily influenced by the principles espoused by Marx - I am referring to Groucho and not Karl - who said, `I refuse to belong to any club that would have me as a member’.

‘When The Gaming Machines Act was being debated in this Parliament 5½ years ago I was not part of the voice of protest against their introduction. I was not one of the 2,500 people who protested against their introduction on the steps of Parliament House on 26 July 1992: I was ambivalent over their introduction. I had been to Las Vegas a few years earlier and had found the place and its pokies as garish and boring as the Elvis impersonators with whom the place was littered. But my ambivalence soon evaporated because, within a few months of the introduction of gaming machines in this State, client after client at my legal practice began telling me of problems that they or their relatives and friends had experienced since the introduction of the machines.

‘A retired couple in a country town for whom I acted (and with whom I still keep in contact), who also worked as full-time volunteers for a major charity, told me that since the introduction of gaming machines they had noticed an exponential increase in demand for services from the charity and a corresponding decrease in donations, particularly of clothing, from their local community. Seeing a local deli in my area close because, according to the owners, it could not compete with the $3 meals in the gaming venue across the road, reinforced for me the breadth of the impact of gaming machines.

‘But one client's story stayed in my mind: he has a cognitive impairment because of an industrial accident compounded by long-term alcohol problems. He was, and still is, a particularly vulnerable individual. He told me that practically his only friends in the world were his mates and the bar staff at his local pub. Before pokies came to South Australian pubs he would go once a year on a pokies bus tour to Wentworth in New South Wales and spend $50 or so. However, that all changed in late 1995 when he received an interim pay-out of $30,000 for his disabilities via another law firm. His local pub was now a 40 poker machine venue.

‘As with many people playing the pokies, he found the sounds, lights and visual effects of the machines exciting. It should come as no surprise to members that gaming machine manufacturers retain the services of psychologists to enhance the allure of machines. He told me that because he soon became a regular player with the proceeds of his lump sum he received the red carpet treatment from hotel staff and management. He says that he was lavished with free meals, drinks and, on some occasions, credit by the hotel. I remind members that the provision of credit at a gaming venue for the purposes of gaming carries with it a maximum fine of $30,000 or two years imprisonment.

‘My client also told me that, on occasions, he was given free alcohol while he was playing the pokies and while he was under the influence. When he broke down in my office and told me that he had lost $28,000 in just six months I was angry. I was angry because this simple man had been used by people who ought to have known better.

‘Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example. A former gaming room attendant at another venue told me that the provision of credit and free alcohol to players were common occurrences at the particular venue where she worked. Gambling counsellors to whom I have spoken recently tell me that some venues are still flouting the rules, particularly on credit and the cashing of cheques, which casts a shadow over the vast majority of venues that keep within the law.

‘I note that these practices are very much against the Australian Hotels Association code of practice. The provision of credit concerns me greatly. Psychiatrists dealing with problem gamblers tell me that the gaming venue giving credit to a problem gambler can effectively feed the addiction and accelerate and compound player losses. It is often the most vulnerable players who seek credit.

‘Gaming machines and their accessibility are the acute manifestation of a gambling mania that this State and the rest of Australia has been caught up in. I have been told by researchers on gambling studies that, with only one-third of 1 per cent of the world's population, Australia is host or, should I say, hostage to 20 per cent of the world's gaming machines. I have been informed that Australians gamble more per capita than any other nation. We outstrip the No. 2 nation – the United States – by a 3:1 ratio in per capita gambling losses. Last financial year Australians lost over $10 billion in gambling – that is, actual player losses – almost half of that on gaming machines.

‘In South Australia, gaming losses have more than doubled since the introduction of gaming machines to pubs and clubs in July 1994. Current actual player losses of over $1 million a day on gaming machines diverts money away from many small retailers. The Small Retailers Association estimates via surveys of its members that many of its members have lost up to 15 per cent in turnover. The Australian Hotels Association says that some 3,000 new jobs, including part-time casual jobs, have been created as a consequence of gaming. I do not dispute that. The Small Retailers Association, though, says that more jobs have been lost in the food and retailing sectors because of gaming machines. I am not suggesting that small retailers be insulated from fair market forces, but gaming machines have distorted the level playing field. The granting of a gaming machine licence has given some a licence to print money whilst sending many others to the wall.

‘The consequential demand on welfare services has been significant. Last year the Salvation Army reported a 30 per cent increase in demand for family support services, with gaming machines a significant factor. The gaming industry very cleverly portrays going to the pokies as an entertainment. It says that it is like going to the movies. However, a psychologist practising in the field of addictive disorders told me at a national gambling studies conference last weekend that, in all his years of practice, he has never treated anyone with a problem from going to see Nicole Kidman or Tom Cruise on the big screen too often.

‘The gaming industry talks of the right to choose, of individual choice. I say that those rights need to be considered in the context of the impact on individuals and the community generally. The same argument was peddled by the tobacco industry for decades until it was dragged kicking and screaming with legislation to accept that it could not promote its products at will and that extensive public education was needed to redress the cultural perception that smoking was harmless. We now know that 20 per cent of smokers will develop cancer.

‘I still believe that if South Australians had had a choice 5½ years ago we would not now have the current proliferation of gaming machines. Instead, we have a new tax of almost $3 million a week, a so-called ‘voluntary tax’. It is a tax on the poor, the vulnerable and the small businesses in this State.

‘I would like to think that South Australia can lead the way with sensible reforms to the gaming industry, reforms that reflect overwhelming community attitudes and opinion. Measures such as slowing the rate of play of machines, extensive public education and shutting machines off temporarily after a win to allow for a cooling-off period are reforms that will help that significant number of South Australians who have a problem. By helping them, we as a community are strengthened. I have been told by many that it is too late to make a difference on this issue, but to that I say that I am betting the next eight years of my life that positive change is achievable.’

- Reproduced with the kind permission of the Hon. Nick Xenophon, MLC