Thursday, 18 May 2023

Bills

Gambling Taxation Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Tim Pallas:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (10:38): Unlike a soufflé, I rise again as the nightwatchman looking after the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. This bill is of course a crucial step, and the opposition I am sure will be very supportive of this crucial step in improving the regulation in our state around gambling, making the system fairer, more transparent and more equitable. The Gambling Taxation Bill delivers on a recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence. It strengthens the casino taxation arrangements at Crown Melbourne. It brings together the administration of Victoria’s gambling taxes and makes several consequential amendments to the Casino Control Act 1991, the Casino (Management Agreement) Act 1993, the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 and the Taxation Administration Act 1997.

As we all know in this place, getting taxes right is vitally important for fairness. It is also vitally important to deliver on the things that our communities need. As we all know, this bill responds to the royal commission that was established in February 2021. It was established in light of the Bergin inquiry in New South Wales. The Bergin inquiry found that Crown Resorts should not be entitled to hold the licence for the Sydney Barangaroo complex. The Victorian government initiated a royal commission into the suitability of Crown Melbourne to hold its casino licence, and its findings were delivered on 15 October 2021.

The royal commission’s report and recommendations were then released subsequently, on 26 October 2021. The results of this royal commission were nothing short of shocking. It found Crown Melbourne improperly claimed deductions from gambling revenue and reduced its tax bill. Millions of dollars in taxes were not paid to fund the services and infrastructure that every Victorian relies on, taking money out of the pockets of every Victorian. The millions of dollars needed to be repaid. It is so that we can deliver the schools, the hospitals, the public and social housing, the social supports and the support to problem gamblers and others with addiction. This was taken from every Victorian – not the government of Victoria, every Victorian.

Crown Melbourne, according to the royal commission, showed a complete disregard for the law. By the time the commission had reported, more than $60 million in back taxes and interest had been repaid. They considered that more was likely to be due. These back taxes related to a period going back at least a decade – back to 2012, in their reckoning, and beyond. The royal commission noted that Crown Melbourne facilitated millions of dollars to be laundered through a bank account of its subsidiary. They considered that Crown Melbourne allowed operators with links to organised crime to arrange for junket players to gamble at the casino. The royal commission wrote that Crown’s behaviour was variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative. Royal commissions do not make these statements lightly. The government has not taken these statements lightly, and we have been quick to act.

This is the fourth and final tranche of completing the royal commission’s recommendations. The new powers have already resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of fines to Crown Melbourne – $200 million in 2022 alone: $80 million in May from the illegal transfer of funds through to the China UnionPay scheme; $100 million in fines in November 2022 for breaches of its responsible service of gambling – this included allowing people in one of the most monitored environments in the state to be able to gamble for more than 24 hours straight, an aberration of their responsibilities; and in November 2022, again, they were fined $20 million for failing to comply with a statutory direction by the regulator to take all reasonable steps to prevent patrons from using stimulated automatic play. Again, it is a well-regulated environment for Crown Casino and for their profits, but when it came to patrons they turned a blind eye – and wilfully.

The lack of tax obligations was part of a pattern of behaviour by Crown Melbourne. The commissioner concluded Crown Melbourne was not suitable to hold the licence. Among the recommendations of the royal commission was to move the casino’s taxation arrangements in line with the Taxation Administration Act 1997 to provide a greater level of enforcement if wrongdoing was to occur. It standardises the administration of taxes under the commissioner of the State Revenue Office and the State Revenue Office.

This government has acted on the royal commissioner’s findings. We are seeking to ensure that if bad behaviour occurs again, it will be caught and appropriate penalties will be put in place. The bill also transfers the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission to the State Revenue Office, strengthening oversight and compliance. It allows for the imposition of taxation penalties and for more timely collection of taxes owed to every Victorian. It is owed to the people of this state to deliver the services that we need – taxes that are now going to be due monthly and returns that will be lodged monthly for a greater level of oversight. The bill delineates the taxation role undertaken by the State Revenue Office and the regulatory role with the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission. The bill also allows for transfer of information between these bodies where disclosure is appropriate and relevant.

The Gambling Taxation Bill 2023 goes further. Critically, the royal commission found that the existing management agreement did not provide appropriate penalties. The bill remedies this in respect of Crown Melbourne’s underpayment of tax by moving aspects of the Tax Administration Act’s administrative framework. The standardised interest and penalties will apply to casino taxes starting this year on 1 July. In a practical sense, what does that mean? It means it will be 8 per cent on top of commercial market interest rates. It gives a stronger incentive to pay the taxes required. Further penalties may be imposed by the State Revenue Office and its commissioner.

The bill legislates that the tax rate for Crown’s electronic gaming machines will match rates applying to club and other venue operators, increasing the tax recouped from Crown Casino by increasing the maximum marginal tax rate for electronic gaming machines operated at the casino from 31.57 per cent to 60.67 per cent plus the 1 per cent community benefit. It will improve equity by ensuring the casino is taxed at rates equivalent to many Victorian gaming venues. It brings us into alignment with New South Wales and most other states and territories.

Further, the bill implements an increase to the rate of wagering and betting tax from 10 to 15 per cent, which comes into place on 1 July 2024. As I said earlier, this is part of the fourth tranche of changes as a result of the royal commission, and we are delivering on the findings as such. This bill, with its enhanced taxation framework, is a crucial step towards ensuring that the gambling industry and Crown Melbourne in particular are regulated and taxed in a fairer, more transparent and more equitable manner with penalties that will deter future misconduct.

Taxations provide the supports that we need in our community to fund the infrastructure that we need, and for more than 10 years Crown Melbourne have been taking those taxes from every single Victorian. In my community the Werribee Mercy Hospital could have done with those millions of dollars to provide the improvements that they need and that this government is delivering. The schools in Point Cook needed these funds for improvements. The sporting clubs in Point Cook needed these funds for their improvements. Point Cook Road – what could we have done with that $60 million that was taken from every part of our community? We could have made lives better for everyone there. And that is just the information that this royal commission was able to uncover. That is why this bill is important. That is why I seek that this house supports this bill. I know those opposite want to see their communities funded – and well funded – by taxes that are owed to our community. I commend the bill to the house.

Sam GROTH (Nepean) (10:48): I will just start by saying I do agree with the member. We all want to see our communities funded and hope to do so in next week’s state budget. I rise to give a contribution on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023, and I just want to thank the Shadow Treasurer, the member for Sandringham, for his work on this as well as the other shadow ministers, the member for Gippsland South – the member for Gippsland South is in the chamber – for his work and the member for Gippsland East for his knowledge on this. I do note that we will not be opposing the bill, as it is quite uncontroversial and it is not opposed by the racing industry or the gaming industry. This bill will achieve several key purposes as part of broader reform to gambling taxation in Victoria, including strengthening the casino tax arrangements beginning on 1 July this year, 2023, which will be administered by the commissioner of state revenue as taxation law under the Taxation Administration Act 1997. The bill will also raise the point-of-consumption tax, which I will go into a bit more, from 10 to 15 per cent, which will bring Victoria in line with those levels in New South Wales. The broader bill will create a single legislative vehicle to address gambling taxes administered by the commissioner.

First, I will touch on the Crown Casino taxation rates. The bill will change those tax arrangements for the electronic gaming machines, or EGMs, at Crown Casino, which had previously been taxed at a different rate to those in ordinary clubs around the state. Crown Casino’s EGMs are currently taxed at 31.57 per cent of machine revenue, plus they contribute a 1 per cent community benefit levy on total machine revenue, and this differs from ordinary clubs who operate EGMs and are taxed on a sliding scale. This bill will subject Crown Casino to the same tax regimen that ordinary clubs are subject to, and it will result in a higher rate of tax for Crown’s EGMs. This increase is expected to raise up to $30 million in additional revenue for the state government, and as I said, with a budget coming up they could certainly need it.

The point-of-consumption tax, or the POCT, will provide an increase, as we said, of 10 to 15 per cent and will move us up so we are in line with New South Wales. It will impose a tax on the net wagering revenue of a wagering and betting entity at a rate of 10 per cent of the amount of the entity’s net wagering revenue more than the $1 million tax-free threshold on or after 1 July 2023 and before 1 July 2024, and after 1 July 2024 it will be raised to 15 per cent. Now, 4 per cent of that 5 per cent raised will go to industry, and the final 1 per cent – well, that at the moment will go into consolidated revenue, hopefully for schools and roads et cetera. But as we have already heard on the Gambling Regulation Amendment Bill 2023, dealt with by the member for Gippsland South, with the expectation that that licensing will not quite reach the heights that it did previously with Tabcorp because of the difference in what those licences are going to be and with the range of online bookmakers, there is sort of an understanding that that final 1 per cent will actually end up going back to the industry anyway to make up some of that shortfall in the licensing.

The bill also provides for a monthly payment to the industry, so they will get that paid monthly from the Consolidated Fund. The bill will allow the government to increase payments to the racing industry from 3.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent as a result of the changes to the POCT. This will result in an additional $119 million in average annual funding to the racing industry here in Victoria over the three financial years from 1 July 2024.

A couple of small issues with the point-of-consumption tax have to do with some of the smaller bookmakers. We have got our big bookmakers – Tabcorp, Entain and some of these big players – but a lot of the smaller bookmakers run at a short loss throughout a lot of the racing season and then make that up around the spring carnival and the big events like the Caulfield Cup, the Melbourne Cup and these sorts of times throughout the year. Quite often these bookmakers may struggle to regularly pay the revenue-based tax. I think they would like to see some considerations made around an increase in the threshold, the removal of free bets or an allowance in the calculation of the POCT for clients under that threshold and maybe the consideration of an end-of-financial year true-up for those smaller bookmakers on the POCT rather than their paying it throughout the year. Maybe they could pay it every six months or annually to give them a chance and so that they do not run at a loss and get hit with a big, hefty tax bill and have to try and front up the cash. They could go through their good period of the year, and when Melbourne Cup finishes then maybe they could pay their tax bill for that year.

We also know there is an agreement with the government and the racing industry to provide certainty for 10 years, and that agreement as laid out in this bill has been agreed to. The industry now have the funding assurances for the next 10 years, but they cannot come back, hands out, if something changes with this licensing or the way people bet. There is no expectation that these provisions will be revisited in the next 10 years. As the commercial landscape in the wagering and racing industries has and continues to change – there are new operators popping up all the time, and the way people bet is continuing to change – it is going to be important to consider how removing flexibility may affect future policymaking both in a positive and negative way. Assuming that the government follows through with its promises – we know there is a memorandum of understanding with the industry – I think this bill is overall good for the industry. It will be good to support all of those jobs that we see in the industry – all the trainers, the jockeys, the people that breed the horses and everyone. It is great. This does bring us in line with New South Wales. I think that everyone is fairly happy with what is in this bill. I thank the members on this side for their work, and I thank the members, the minister and the government staff for the briefings they have provided. I note that we will not be opposing this bill.

Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (10:54): No heads-up there, Grothy.

Sam Groth: What did I do?

Will FOWLES: You only did 6½ minutes; you are killing me, brother.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair.

Will FOWLES: It is my great pleasure to rise to speak on this Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. I want to begin by saying that with the passing of this bill we will have the final of the 33 recommendations of the royal commission either fully implemented or legislated and awaiting commencement. That is a not insignificant achievement. I commend the minister on her work in relation to this. It has been a big journey for Crown Casino.

It has been a journey that has resulted in the uncovering of some outrageous behaviour, but I am very pleased that there is some bipartisanship around, one, holding Crown to account, and two, ensuring that the regulatory framework from here on out will be more appropriate, will be fit for purpose and will ensure that Victorians get their fair share of the vast amounts of revenue driven through that place. Of course that revenue does not come without the outstanding work of over 3000 members of the United Workers Union – my union – who do incredible work in that place, who work really, really hard and whose lives and livelihoods we did not want to see disrupted by any heavy-handed regulatory intervention.

Make no mistake: Crown Casino is still on notice. The way in which the recommendation around the retention of their licence is structured is that they will lose their licence unless a bunch of things happen. So the default position, if you like, is that the licence goes unless they can demonstrate – and the onus is on them to demonstrate – that they are an appropriate entity to hold that licence. I appreciate that the ownership has changed, but nonetheless many senior managers remain in place. I know that there is significant cultural change being driven through the organisation, but I also note that since the monitor has been in place there have nonetheless been a number of examples of corporate misconduct which have resulted in very, very significant fines. So the work is ongoing, but I am pleased that it has been largely a bipartisan process to ensure that Crown is able to continue being a very big employer, including those hardworking members of the United Workers Union, but also a good corporate citizen who is paying their fair share for the very special privilege they have been granted by government of holding a monopoly casino licence here in Victoria.

One of the additional findings of the royal commission – and every single one of those recommendations, as I say, with the passage of this act will be fully implemented or will be legislated and awaiting commencement – was that the casino tax should be brought under the administrative framework of the Taxation Administration Act 1997. That is for a number of reasons, and that is what this bill seeks to set about putting in place. One reason is that we had a regulator without specialist expertise in taxation performing that function, and that was clearly shown to be deficient, particularly in relation to a bunch of casino tax payments that had not been made by Crown extending over a number of years. Clearly there was perhaps not regulatory failure but certainly administrative failure in not being able to get those amounts that were owed and be able to bring them to book, but also presumably there was a lack of sufficient expertise or technical expertise to make sure that those matters were properly acquitted at the time. Bringing it into the State Revenue Office (SRO), where all of our specialist tax bureaucrats reside, is an appropriate response to that deficiency that was identified by the royal commission.

The royal commission also found that Crown improperly claimed deductions in the calculations of its casino tax. There were underpayments going back over 10 years, at least back as far as 2012, and the commission also observed that once any underpayment was determined the dispute could only be resolved by pursuing disciplinary action or by suing the casino for the unpaid tax plus penalty interest, but there was no other financial consequence. So at the very least the casino could game the system and just get a loan for those monies with tax payable at some future indeterminate point in time if in fact it was ever uncovered by the regulator. The royal commission said that was an unusual situation, and I am pretty strongly inclined to agree with that – it was a very unusual situation – and it meant that even if tax was intentionally withheld from government, there would be no penalty other than the payment of penalty interest. That is clearly not the sort of outcome we want.

We want to make absolutely sure that if corporations, whether casino operators or otherwise, are engaged in conduct that is deceptive, engaged in conduct that is depriving the Victorian government of the resources that it needs to fund all those essential services that it provides, they are brought to account with a punitive component in those circumstances where they are seeking to defraud us, the Parliament, the government and the people of Victoria. Bringing these taxation provisions out of the Casino (Management Agreement) Act 1993 and into a new act called the Gambling Taxation Act 2023 changes the administration and oversight of casino taxation and brings all of that casino taxation under the purview of the commissioner of state revenue whilst leaving all the other regulatory functions with the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC).

I want to make a couple of comments about the establishment of that commission, because the establishment of the VGCCC was a very important part of our response to the royal commission. Under the gambling act the casino now has to lodge returns monthly. It has to deal with the commissioner, and it then has a separate regulatory relationship with the regulator, which is all about gambling harm and running safe gambling operations. The Taxation Administration Act 1997, which is the head act, if you like, of these tax provisions, has extensive abilities to impose not just penalty interest but penalty tax and provisions around record keeping. Importantly, it also has a bunch of criminal offences, including for giving false or misleading information to tax officers. It is that elevation into the tax regulation environment, as opposed to sitting in a discrete gambling regulatory environment, that makes these rules very important. It makes the recommendation of the commissioner very important, and it allows us to ensure that Crown is held to the highest standards of corporate behaviour.

This is about the separation, in effect, of the two functions – the gambling tax function and the operational function, the regulatory function – but it is also about the efficiency and the delivery of both. It is using the right tool for the right job. It is using specialists in their respective fields, in their respective organisations, to administer those parts of the act which we consider to be extremely important.

There are additional amendments which will allow the SRO to share information about the casino licensee’s tax affairs with the VGCCC where it is appropriate and where it is relevant to their regulatory and disciplinary functions. That is important because there will be circumstances where the reporting obligations of Crown on, say, turnover of machines or whatever, need to reconcile with what they are reporting to the SRO as well as to the VGCCC. It is appropriate that you have that information-sharing capacity in place.

This is the fourth tranche of legislation since we tabled our response to the royal commission in October 2021. There was a fair bit of other stuff going on during that period. I know that members of the 59th Parliament were very heavily engaged in keeping their community safe during that time, but it was undoubtedly a seismic report, a seismic royal commission, a royal commission that resulted in significant legislative change, significantly regulatory change and a significant change to the structure of Victoria’s monopoly casino licensee. In responding the government has been firm but fair. It has sought to ensure the ultimate viability of the casino but under a framework that means they behave better, they pay their fair share of taxes and they conduct themselves as a good corporate citizen, all the while having a view to the very important work of those 3000-odd United Workers Union members and other workers at the site. I do commend this bill to the house.

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (11:04): I rise to speak on behalf of the Greens on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. This bill, among other things, responds to the Royal Commission into the Crown Casino Operator and Licence. Certainly the changes in relation to regulation there make sense to us. The bill also raises the rate of the point-of-consumption tax for betting in Victoria to 15 per cent.

At its current rate of 10 percent this is a tax that generates about $280 million per year, and this bill, by increasing it, will generate at least another $140 million of revenue. But what we do not think makes sense is that at the same time we have got a government saying they have got to make tough decisions. We are going to see the cutting of funding in the upcoming budget, we are going to see cuts to public sector jobs, we are going to see an austerity budget, yet at this point in time they are choosing to hand over millions of dollars to the racing industry. It is going to see around half the revenue – some members have even indicated it could be more – gifted back to the racing industry. Really, when you look at all the needs in Victoria, should we be funnelling even more money at this point in time to this industry? This is a time when Victorians are struggling to keep their heads above water, when people are being pushed into poverty, into crisis, and are needing to seek help from homelessness services, food relief and emergency wards. This government really has a clear choice. It has got a clear choice in this bill, it has got a clear choice in the upcoming budget: are you going to support Victorians who are struggling to make ends meet, or are you going to continue to side with profiteering industries? This government is choosing the latter – in fact the government and the opposition are choosing the latter – by gifting hundreds of millions of dollars to the racing industry with this bill, and it just beggars belief.

What sort of government sits around the cabinet table or sits around the party room and decides, ‘Well, we’re increasing a tax here on the gambling industry, what are we going to do with the revenue?’ You have got people experiencing homelessness. You have already got increasing homelessness, cuts to the From Homelessness to a Home program and homelessness services turning people away. You have got people experiencing hunger, you have got community service organisations that are struggling to meet the needs of people seeking food and material aid. You have got people who are waiting months for essential medical care and dental or mental health support. You have got people putting off seeking medical care because of the costs and being unable to access bulk billing. You have got our community health services crying out for more funding to help people in need. But, no, not them; I tell you what: we will give the biggest chunk to the racing industry. I mean, come on. Come on, part of the money goes to the Hospitals and Charities Fund. What I would like to do is circulate the amendments in my name, which remove the Victorian racing industry payment from the money raised through this bill.

Amendments circulated under standing orders.

Sam HIBBINS: What we also call on the government to do is increase the rate of this tax to 20 per cent. I note that in Queensland, that is the rate that this tax is set at. We have got some of the highest rates of gambling in the world, and I think 20 per cent would be a fair rate of taxation for the gambling industry in terms of a betting point-of-consumption tax. This would raise the total revenue to about $560 million per annum. When you look at what is happening across our state – a skyrocketing cost of living; a real wage cut for workers, the biggest ever on record; people waiting months for essential medical care – there is a clear choice: make industries like the gambling industry pay their fair share of tax to fund the things that people need. This could not come at a more timely point, given the massive challenges that people are facing, and certainly that is the direction the government should be going with this bill and with the upcoming state budget – not an austerity budget that is going to make things worse for people. People in need cannot wait another few years until we get back into surplus to have these sorts of issues addressed. So I would certainly urge the government to do that: to raise the rate of the point-of-consumption tax and not funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the racing industry, and I would certainly urge consideration of those amendments in this place and in the other place.

I would like to conclude just in terms of the bill’s actions in relation to Crown Casino. We support those measures, but what I say is that the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming into that royal commission. It took far too long for that to occur. In terms of the response to Crown Casino as well, the government missed the trick and missed the opportunity to downsize and reduce the scale of Crown Casino. Crown Casino, when it came to fruition under the Kennett government, was I think the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere. Melbourne does not need the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere. It is far too big, and that has added to the issues and added to the reason why the clear problems with Crown Casino were not addressed. It was a casino that was simply too big to fail. Often when the Premier would speak about the casino he would talk about it being the largest single-site employer in Melbourne, as if that should somehow cover for all the wrongdoing that was occurring with Crown Casino. I would urge the government to look at downsizing Crown Casino. We do not need this massive casino in Melbourne. Then if you change tax rates and other regulations, it could ensure that the income from Crown Casino can be contained.

Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (11:11): I also rise to speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. Perhaps before I do, I will note that the member for Malvern was speaking very passionately not half an hour ago about the need for the opposition to have their say, but they are not necessarily here in big numbers to have their say at this point on this bill. I notice that the member for Nepean has returned, so good on him.

This bill obviously deals with gambling, and several of the previous speakers have touched on the broader challenges of gambling within our Victorian society. I would like to echo and support the comments of the member for Kororoit in particular, who I thought spoke compellingly about some of the problems that gambling can cause in her part of the world, and also those of the member for Point Cook, who spoke compellingly about some of the problems associated with Crown in particular and their money laundering, tax underpayment and so forth.

If I can, I might just turn to some of the mechanics of the bill. As the member for Point Cook said, once we have arrived in a position where we are taxing gambling, it is important to do it well, and the bill does exactly that. As a general proposition, those on the government side of the house have of course long supported gambling taxes. They have the same sorts of characteristics as taxes on alcohol or on tobacco – they do serve as a disincentive to behaviour that can have a negative affect. But importantly, they also raise revenue, which the government can spend on all the things that it needs to spend it on.

The bill before us does have some quite complex hypothecation arrangements in it with respect to the revenue that it raises. Hypothecation arrangements are not always loved by treasurers, but there are certainly plenty in this bill. Most of the funds, as we know, go to the Hospitals and Charities Fund. The Hospitals and Charities Fund is a wonderfully venerable fund that has been around I think since 1911, and we have been paying gambling tax into it since about 1930. I noted that the member for East Gippsland earlier complained that the money raised by some of these taxes would go to various projects that he did not support, but in fact most of it is very clearly hypothecated into that fund. For the interest of members, if you go back to 1930, when we first set this up, Maurice Blackburn, who was then the member for Clifton Hill, did quite strongly oppose the hypothecation of this money into the Hospitals and Charities Fund, not because he had anything against hospitals or charities but because he opposed gambling, full stop, and did not want it to be used as a reason to support gambling. I think if the member for Clifton Hill were alive today, he would be very pleased with a lot of the progress on many of the progressive issues that were dear to his heart, but I reckon he would be slightly surprised that 100 years later gambling arrangements look very similar to what they looked like when he was debating them in 1930.

As the Minister for Racing alluded to earlier – I will not repeat his comments – a significant amount of the funds is hypothecated to the racing industry. My favourite – and maybe it is just me – is that one-thirtieth of the proceeds of the tax from the month of April go to the Anzac Day Proceeds Fund, and that will support veterans and the ex-service community.

Coming then to the taxes consolidated by the bill: they include now the wagering and betting tax. The member for Nepean touched on the fact that that is now a point-of-consumption tax, an important reform of this Labor government back in 2017, and is of course being raised by this bill to 15 per cent as previous speakers have alluded to. There is the tax-free threshold there for smaller bookmakers, which the member for Nepean also touched on. Secondly, there is the keno tax, which now comes across into this bill, and then thirdly, there are the casino taxes, which are the key driving motivation of the bill if you like. They are quite complex, the casino taxes. If you look at them, they have sort of built up over a long period of time. There are the community levy and the table game tax, which is 21.25 per cent of net gaming revenue. There is then separately to that a tax on the electronic gaming machines, which is relatively complex. The gist of that is that this bill harmonises that with the rate paid by other clubs. There are then a couple of measures to do with commission-based players, and finally a form of super-profits tax, if you like, which is also levied on Crown Casino and is set out in schedule 1.

That brings me, I suppose, to the key reason for supporting the bill. The key thing about it is that the casino taxes are in it and that it will now be read with the Taxation Administration Act 1997 and thus be brought under the jurisdiction, if you like, of the commissioner and of the State Revenue Office. As others have spoken to, the bill had its origins in the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence, which was established by this government under commissioner Ray Finkelstein in 2021. I think we have to acknowledge the great work done by the commissioner and also acknowledge the very well written report – a very quotable report, as we have heard from the number of times it has been quoted in this debate, but clear and well written.

It is probably fair to say that if you are a company operating in this state, it is not a good sign when a royal commission is created solely for the purpose of dealing with your company, and it is probably also fair to say that it was very much warranted. Other speakers, including the member for Ringwood, have spoken at some length about Crown’s ‘disgraceful behaviour’, as the commissioner called it. I will not reiterate all of that, but of particular relevance to this bill is the underpayment of more than $60 million worth of tax –

A member: Shameful.

Nathan LAMBERT: Shameful behaviour by Crown. Again, the royal commission goes into detail about the mechanics of that underpayment. Essentially, Crown misrepresented loyalty programs as if they were winnings in order to minimise the taxes that I have mentioned previously. The report goes into some detail about the great lengths that Crown went to to hide those underpayments and, importantly, the limitations of the Casino (Management Agreement) Act 1993 on allowing the government to penalise them for that behaviour and to take all the measures that we would normally take had that been, say, a company failing to pay payroll tax or anything that comes under our other taxation arrangements. So that is exactly why it led to the recommendation of the royal commission’s report that we bring casino taxes into this act and then bring them under the Taxation Administration Act. The end point will be that it is now the same as the Payroll Tax Act 2007 or the Land Tax Act 2005 or all the others that are under the State Revenue Office.

I should do a shout-out: in a previous role I did work with the State Revenue Office, and I think they do a very good job of what is a very difficult job. People often do not like paying tax, and as many of us here know if perhaps they have been contacted by their electorate officers, people sometimes go to very great lengths. They are sometimes very aggressive and very manipulative in their attempts to avoid paying tax. It has always been like that, and unfortunately, Crown’s behaviour, disgraceful as it was, is not entirely outside the realm of the things that we do see every year. And so I think it is exactly the reason why the State Revenue Office – and full credit to them, having to deal with that day in and day out as part of their work – will now be dealing day in and day out with collecting those taxes from Crown. Of course they already deal with some gambling taxes, so it is an incremental reform but an important one.

If I can just reflect briefly on the so-called ‘management agreement’, which is the former casino management agreement that this bill is effectively getting rid of by moving the taxes across. If you look at that management agreement, it perhaps reminds you that it is hard for the government to negotiate well with large corporations. It just always has been. They know their business well and they are very aggressive negotiators. There is information asymmetry, so to speak. We do see time and time again, when governments reach commercial agreements with large organisations, that there is an unfortunate tendency for risk to be pushed onto the government, and that is what we saw here. So I am very glad that the Treasurer and his team at the Department of Treasury and Finance and the team in his office have taken the step of pushing back and negotiating hard – and our Treasurer is a very good negotiator – to ensure that now the pushing of risk onto the government will no longer occur should this bill, hopefully, be passed. As I have alluded to, once we agree that we are going to tax gambling, it is important that we do it well. I think it is a huge credit to the Treasurer, his team and his department that they have brought forward this important incremental reform. Crown do need to be regulated more strongly, that was clear from the royal commission, and this is a bill that will do that. I commend it to the house.

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (11:21): I am happy to stand and speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. I am excited that this is my first debate in this place, and I would like to thank the electorate of Hastings for affording me this opportunity and for giving me a seat at the table.

The Gambling Taxation Bill 2023 delivers a significant recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence to strengthen the casino taxation arrangements for Crown Melbourne. The bill consolidates the administration of a number of Victoria’s gambling taxes and also implements the 2023–24 budget measures. The Gambling Taxation Bill 2023 will establish a new standalone gambling taxation act, which will bring Victorian into line with other states, to provide a fairer amount of revenue for Victoria.

Now, I have read lots of words in putting this debate together. I have gone through pages of information, and I still sit back and go, ‘What really is this bill about?’ I know it is quite complex – there are a lot of issues in this bill – but at the end of the day, for me and perhaps Mum and Dad at home watching this, this bill is about a fair go. It says that here: ‘provide a fairer amount of revenue’. It is about a fair go, and not a fair go for those on the other side of the chamber – a fair go for mates. This is a Labor fair go, where it is a fair go for all of the community and all of the members of Victoria. So I am very happy to be here and debate it. I also want to say that this is not a new tax. There are no new taxes in this for everyday Victorians. As I said, this is about a fair go. There is a multibillion-dollar company that is not paying its fair share, and it is time it did. That is what this is about. It is about levelling the playing field and being fair for everyone.

The bill implements the 2023–24 budget announcement to increase the wagering and betting tax from 10 per cent to 15 per cent from 1 July 2024. There is no change to the annual tax-free threshold of $1 million. The government’s annual payment to the racing industry will be increased from 3.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent. That is an increase of 4 per cent for the racing industry – an industry that contributes $4.7 billion to the state’s economic activity and provides nearly 35,000 jobs. So we are giving a bit, they are giving a bit – it sounds pretty fair to me.

The bill comes about from work done in 2021 by the Honourable Ray Finkelstein, who delivered the royal commission’s report on casino operators and licences. They found that there were significant underpayments of casino tax to the state by Crown over several years, which is why this government is supporting all of the recommendations handed down. That is 33 recommendations. I did consider going through every recommendation to run the clock down, but I thought I would not do that. It is interesting to hear other members’ ideas on what recommendations are great, and I will say a little bit more about that in a moment.

The Victorian government has already introduced major reforms to tackle gambling-related harm and address money laundering at Crown Melbourne. This bill is the fourth tranche of legislation to be brought to the Parliament since the Victorian government tabled its response to the royal commission in October 2021. Since then the government has acted fast by committing to strengthen the casino’s oversight and tax arrangements. These are key areas of reform and keep Crown on an even playing field with local clubs and pubs. It is a fair go.

Further, the Victorian government has done tremendous work delivering nine priority recommendations. Importantly, it has established the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, the VGCCC. Last year the Casino and Liquor Legislation Amendment Act 2022 delivered further recommendations to boost the powers and functions of inspectors, embed harm minimisation and complete transition to the new regulator, the VGCCC. The work has been done and continues to be done, and this bill continues that good work.

I am really glad to say that the VGCCC has teeth. In May 2022 Crown was fined $80 million for the illegal transfer of funds. In November 2022, just this last November, Crown was fined $100 million for breaches of its code of conduct for the responsible service of gambling – it was sometimes letting people gamble for over 24 hours in a row. Also in November 2022 Crown was fined $20 million by the regulator for failing to comply with statutory regulations. I am really grateful that the government is working so hard and consistently to provide a fairer system for all Victorians. The great news is that in passing this bill we will have successfully implemented or legislated all 33 recommendations by the royal commission. That is getting things done. That is a fairer go for Victoria.

I want to go back and talk a little bit about why this bill is so important from my point of view, especially in the strengthening of the oversight of the casino. I want to quote two things that Ray Finkelstein wrote in the report. He said:

Perhaps the most damning discovery by the Commission is the manner in which Crown Melbourne deals with the many vulnerable people who have a gambling problem. The cost to the community of problem gambling is enormous. It is not only the gambler who suffers. It also affects many other people, and institutions.

He further stated:

Crown Melbourne had for years held itself out as having a world’s best approach to problem gambling. Nothing can be further from the truth –

‘nothing can be further from the truth’ –

The Commission heard many distressing stories from people whose lives were ruined by gambling but whose situation might have been improved if casino staff had carried out their obligations under Crown Melbourne’s … Code.

I do not gamble. I do not really understand gambling, As a young dancer-actor I was lucky if I had three bucks to buy a beer after a show, so the last thing I was going to do was put three bucks in a gambling machine. But I understand that it is valid. If people want to go down with friends and throw a few bucks in the pokies or mates want to get together or you just want to relax from a hard day’s work, then that is all fine. But those people that can do that have control. It is those with an addiction that do not.

My mate Brett had a rather addictive nature – a lovely man, very talented. When he was younger he was a heroin addict, and I am very glad to say he got off that, which was difficult, but he made it. But then he fell into a gambling addiction and he spent his time at the pub putting his and his wife’s earnings through. I am very glad to say he got through that and now his addiction is his family, his kids and his artistic pursuits. He got through. There are many people that do not. There are people that do not survive this – they are dead or they are in jail.

I recently had Anna come to my office. She got through this, but she came and explained to me about addiction, and she told me her story. She started gambling just with friends over a wine or two; they would go to the pokies, and she really enjoyed that. And then she thought when she was alone, she might go back to the pokies and have a little tipple. She told me how the bright lights, the colours and the sound of all the machines really drew her in – my granddaughter would love to go there, especially when she gets free lemonade. She would stay there for hours and gamble. Anna stayed there for 10 years. She lost her husband, she lost her money, she lost her house and she lost more. Anna also said to me, because she gets a little annoyed, ‘Don’t use the word “problem gambler”. Don’t use the word “gambling problem”,’ – because a heroin user-addict is not a problem heroin user, they are an addict. An alcoholic is an addict.

A gambler with an addiction is someone with an addiction, not a problem. I think we need to just focus on that a little bit so that we can help these people more. The problem is not gambling or drugs or alcohol, the problem is addiction, and there are companies like Crown that are willing to abuse people with an addiction for their own financial gain – disgusting. This bill goes some way to stopping that. The Andrews Labor government is working hard to help those in the community that are vulnerable and being exploited for others’ financial gain.

Just to sum up my debate and this bill, essentially this bill is bringing Victoria in line with other states and providing greater economic benefit for Victoria. It also puts Crown on the same level playing field as pubs and clubs, which have paid a far higher rate compared with Crown, a multibillion-dollar organisation. Additionally the recommendations handed down by the royal commission provide additional strengthening of oversight of Crown. I would just like to finish by saying: if you feel that you need help with your gambling or you know someone that needs help with gambling – if you feel like your gambling or your friend’s gambling is getting out of control – in my electorate you can go to Peninsula Health at Hastings, to Gambler’s Help, or more broadly contact the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. I commend this bill to the house.

Emma VULIN (Pakenham) (11:31): I rise to speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. This bill creates a new standalone gambling taxation act consolidating the administration of several Victorian gambling taxes. In strengthening the casino taxation arrangements for Crown Casino Melbourne, it delivers on a significant recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence.

Over 20 years ago I worked as a Crown Club host at Melbourne’s Crown Casino. I obtained a fair wage and was treated well as an employee despite the gruelling graveyard shifts. But I also saw the realities of gambling addiction. I saw the punters come in day after day, and I even knew many of them by name. It was a place of fun and entertainment for most, a place of comfort for some but also, sadly, a place a harm for others. I saw some faces come back again and again. It became clear their losses were Crown’s gains. A trip to the casino should be a little bit of fun, entertainment and excitement. For the majority of visitors that is the case; however, for some it is not. In my own electorate of Pakenham more than $22 million was lost in the 2021–22 financial year in the 305 electronic gaming machines located across our four local venues. While these losses are significant, they are lower than many other areas within our state as my community has a young population, with many of my constituents not yet old enough to gamble.

These clubs provide local gathering spaces for our growing community to socialise with family and friends over a meal. Clubs are required to fulfil a community benefit levy, and they do so. My local venues fulfil their community obligations through community grants, which are open to sporting clubs, local charities and community groups, and employ local workers, which keeps our economy turning. These hotels and clubs are part of our local social fabric. The clubs in my electorate pay proportionately more in tax per gaming machine than Crown; in fact they pay 15 to 19 per cent more of their takings. This tax gap would be higher again if electronic gaming machines were played at a very high rate in my electorate. The clubs would then pay as much as 25 per cent more tax than Crown.

It only seems fair that Crown’s approximately 2500 gaming machines are taxed at the same rate as other operators and matched to those who have strong links to community: the clubs. Crown’s machines are consolidated in one location. They have the drawcard of the city and all of its attractions. Crown has significant domestic and international visitor numbers from which to draw revenue across the multiple gaming options beyond poker machines on offer in its entertainment complex, with some amazing restaurants, experiences and of course retail outlets. This bill will increase the tax rate on electronic gaming machines at the casino, matching the electronic gaming machine tax rates for clubs from 1 July 2023. The maximum marginal tax rate for electronic gaming machines operated at the casino will be increased from 31.57 per cent to 60.67 per cent plus the 1 per cent community benefit levy.

This results in a more equitable arrangement that equalises the gambling tax rates between the casino and clubs operating electronic gaming machines, ensures the Victorian community receives a fair share of the significant profits of Crown Melbourne without affecting the casino’s economic viability and ensures the tax paid by the largest gambling venue in the state is not lower than the rates paid by smaller not-for-profit community-based venues like those in my electorate. This change is only possible because the Labor government acted swiftly to respond to the recommendations of the Crown royal commission, removing the arrangement with Crown introduced by the previous coalition government – those opposite – that prevented the state from changing regulations without having to pay compensation. This has paved the way for fairer taxation arrangements. For too long Crown has benefited from preferential tax treatment. The change is expected to generate up to $30 million a year in additional revenue for the state without increasing gambling. This revenue can then be spent on what Victorians need – things that matter – like new schools, community hospitals, public transport and major road projects. It is a change I strongly support.

A government direction has recently been issued that requires the casino’s responsible gambling code of conduct to be updated with additional protections to minimise gambling-related harm. The code sets limits on the length of time a person may gamble at the casino, with the operator required to enforce 15-minute breaks if a person has been gambling for three continuous hours. Anyone who has gambled for 12 hours in any 24-hour period will be required to take a break of 24 hours, with no person able to gamble for more than 36 hours in a single week. Crown responsible gambling staff will have powers to exclude them from the casino floor. I welcome this action following my past observations of the many hours punters would spend on the floor, not to mention the wads of cash some would feed into the machines. This direction has been developed to implement recommendation 11 of the royal commission, which was to impose duties on the casino operator to prevent and monitor for gambling harm. This government supports the recommendations of the royal commission and is implementing the critical recommendations in a sensible manner.

Oversight of the casino operator has been strengthened. On 1 July 2022 the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission was fully established as the new regulator, with a dedicated casino division and a stronger focus on gambling harm. Government has provided this commission with the unprecedented powers and strength to make sure that the Melbourne casino operates within the law and regulations and within community expectations. We have already seen the VGCCC use its new powers. In May 2022 Crown Melbourne was fined $80 million for the illegal transfer of funds through the China UnionPay scheme. In November 2022 Crown Melbourne was fined $100 million for breaches of its code of conduct for the responsible service of gambling over many years by consistently failing to intervene to prevent gambling harm and allowing customers to often gamble for long periods of time without a break and sometimes for even more than 24 hours. Again in the same month Crown was fined $20 million for failing to comply with a statutory direction by the regulator to take all reasonable steps to prevent patrons from using plastic picks and other devices to stimulate automatic play when gambling on certain electronic gaming machines, or pokies. With the passing of this bill we will have the final of the 33 recommendations of the royal commission either fully implemented or legislated and awaiting commencement. The government continues to take strong action to hold Crown Melbourne to account on all levels, addressing illegal activity and money laundering and reducing gambling harm at the casino.

Through the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023 the government is making changes to ensure Victoria’s wagering taxes are in line with other states. The bill implements the 2023–24 budget announcement to increase the wagering and betting tax rate from 10 per cent to 15 per cent from 1 July 2024. New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania’s point-of-consumption tax sits at 15 per cent of net wagering revenue. This change is also being made to ensure the Victorian racing industry has a framework to ensure long-term sustainability. Much of the increase will be passed through to the racing industry. From 1 July 2024, 7.5 percentage points of the 15 per cent wagering and betting tax will be paid into the racing industry. One-thirtieth of the April revenue will continue to be paid into the Anzac Day Proceeds Fund, and the balance of the revenue will be paid into the Hospitals and Charities Fund. Funds paid into the Hospitals and Charities Fund are used to support hospitals, health and community services in Victoria. The Victorian racing industry is a significant contributor to the state, adding $4.7 billion annually in economic activity and providing more than 35,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

Racing is particularly important to regional Victoria, where more than 100 clubs are supported by more than 70,000 participants and provide more than $2.45 billion annually in economic value each year. Pakenham Racing Club, just outside my electorate, is one of these venues. It employs many people from my local community. The venue hosts the Pakenham Cup each December, which is a highlight of the local entertainment calendar.

The increase to the point-of-consumption tax strikes the right balance, brings us into line with other states and provides long-term certainty for Victoria’s racing industry. Harness Racing Victoria, Greyhound Racing Victoria and Racing Victoria all agree that this change will benefit the long-term sustainability of their industries. In concluding, the Andrews Labor government is getting on with delivering the tax reforms needed to strengthen the oversight of Melbourne’s Crown Casino and the whole Victorian gambling industry, with a focus on harm minimisation, and our government is ensuring the future of racing in Victoria through sensible taxes on gambling. I commend this bill to the house.

Darren CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (11:41): It is with some pleasure that I rise this morning to make my contribution on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. I certainly from the outset acknowledge a couple of things: firstly, that Crown, as the only holder of a casino licence in the state of Victoria, has the right to run that facility, but of course along with that right, the licence to run that facility, there is a whole set of obligations that sits alongside the ownership of that casino. There are very good and clear reasons why there is a whole set of obligations, and we certainly know globally that it is an absolute necessity with casino-style licences that there is strong and proper oversight to make sure that criminality and other poor behaviour are excluded from those premises. What we do know is that there was a need to put in place a royal commission into the conduct that was happening and was allowed to happen at Crown Casino. A whole bunch of recommendations came out of that, and this government has been responding to those recommendations to make sure that Crown, going forward, is well regulated and that criminal activity and other poor behaviour are minimised.

Last time I looked at the employment statistics around Crown I think it was Victoria’s largest private sector employer. Many millions of people make their way to the casino either on an ad hoc or occasional basis for various functions and other things, to have a good time, and of course some head there more often. I think we all want to see a well-regulated casino in this state so that people can continue to enjoy all that is on offer there, that it can be a great place to work and obviously that it adds to the state offering in a tourism and hospitality context.

I also would like to take the opportunity on this bill to reflect particularly on the horseracing industry in and around Geelong. Of course we have a very historic racetrack that has existed in the Geelong region for well over a century. We have quite a number of smaller racetracks that historically have existed in our region that are no longer are in existence. The Geelong Racing Club is, in its own right, particularly on race meeting days, a significant employer. On any one race meeting you can have over 1000 people working and enjoying the opportunity of having a good, strong job on race day. On race days those numbers swell with all of the hospitality services that are on offer at that racetrack.

But we also have a very significant equine industry that exists in and around Geelong – those people that directly deal with horses, that are involved as strappers or trainers or jockeys or breeders or veterinarians et cetera. If anyone was to take a drive in and around the countryside that surrounds Geelong, you will find any number of horse studs and professional equine services on offer, again supplying many hundreds of jobs in and around the Geelong region. Some of those jobs are highly paid for highly skilled workers, and some of them are more entry level in that sector and in our economy. Again, I want to make the point that in a Geelong context the club is really well run, and a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment out of its existence, and certainly there are many hundreds of jobs on offer. What we want to see with industries like this is that we have a real approach to supporting and growing the sector but also making sure that we have appropriate public health policies in place to make sure we minimise harm that can be done from gambling addiction. That is a challenge, and getting those measures right, getting them balanced, makes a huge amount of sense.

This industry continues to change and evolve. What we have seen I think over the last decade or so is some real disruptors that have come along and provided some really significant challenges, not only to the Victorian government but to the sector and race clubs and on-track betting and the like. Some of those disruptors are new apps where people can go online and gamble in that way. I do not have a particular problem with that. That is a reality. Technology often in any industry can be a disruptor, but we do need to make sure that we recognise those challenges and that we respond to them, and we regulate or legislate where appropriate to recognise those things. One of the concerns that I do have is that often with respect to online gambling, because those servers can be hosted either interstate or internationally, it can be a challenge for a state-based jurisdiction to regulate those things. I do not think there is a lot we can do about it other than recognise it and find other ways to make sure that we have arrangements in place that are fair and appropriate.

What I would also like to say is, like any industry that is profitable – that is making a profit – there needs to be appropriate taxation arrangements in place. It does not matter what sector of the economy it is, it is fair and appropriate that they help contribute to the delivery of the services that our state needs to make sure that we have the capacity to build the things that we need. These taxation measures are appropriate tweaks. I think they are fair and reasonable. They have a very wide level of support from that sector, and I am very pleased to see that.

I want to conclude by saying this: whilst some people are opposed to gambling, if we look at the Geelong context, many thousands of people derive either all or part of their family’s income from this important sector. That is why we want to see strong regulation and legislation and taxation in place. I commend the bill to the house.

Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (11:51): I rise to offer my support for the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. I do have to say that the politics nerd in me is a little bit excited to be speaking on an entirely new piece of legislation for the first time. So far my contributions have been on amendment bills. All have been very worthy and worthwhile of course, and they are important for ensuring that our legislation remains contemporary and best practice, but this is a fresh bill that will establish a very new and very much-needed act. We are implementing a recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence, which I will come back to later, to extend the Taxation Administration Act 1997 to cover casino tax payable by Crown Melbourne by establishing this act as a taxation law. This will implement the royal commission’s recommendation to strengthen the taxation arrangements for Crown Melbourne.

Before I discuss the bill at length, I would really like to reflect on some of the contributions from the members here today, commencing with the member for Point Cook and his examples of Crown’s egregious breaches of their obligations, their disdain for doing what is right and their failure to pay their fair share of taxes. It truly was deplorable behaviour. The member for Hastings made note of the fairness of this bill, and I have to concur that each aspect of this is about what is fair and what is right – that Crown pays what is fair and they do what is right and they do not get away with planning to do the wrong thing anymore. The member for Hastings and the members for Kororoit and Pakenham spoke poignantly upon the scourge of gambling; they touched upon that.

I am the daughter of a punter. We had greyhounds and raced them. Dad loved his greyhounds – I have often joked in the past that he knew more about them than he did about me at school at the time, and that is fine, that was his pastime. It was his letting off of steam; he worked very, very hard on our businesses. But he loved a punt, and he loved the doggies. I think I visited every dog track in Victoria, in southern New South Wales and even over the border in South Australia throughout my childhood. I spent many many, many, many, many hours of my lifetime at those dog tracks, and I saw people enjoying themselves, but I also saw people who were desperate, who were at their end, who could not control how they felt, who could not control how much they put on their bets. It is a compulsion, it is an addiction, it is more than just a problem.

The racing industry can provide wonderful jobs, as the member for South Barwon mentioned before, and everything in balance really. But this bill will help to ensure that in wagering also we get a greater percentage in tax, and I will touch a bit more on Crown and where we are going with that.

The bill establishes a new standalone Gambling Taxation Act which is going to perform five key functions. It will increase the wagering and betting tax rate from 10 to 15 per cent from 1 July next year, a significant portion of which will go to the Hospitals and Charities Fund, and I will elucidate more on that later. It will also transfer the administration of casino tax from the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission to the commissioner of state revenue. It will increase the tax rate on electronic gaming machines for Crown to match the equivalent rates at the small pokies down the road, sometimes at not-for-profit organisations like your RSL. There will be no more special deals for Crown now.

It will establish a new Gambling Taxation Act as a taxation law under the TAA – the Taxation Administration Act 1997 – and it will consolidate other gambling taxes currently administered by the commissioner in the new act. In essence it is a tidying up of legal instruments which deal with taxes and gambling, but more importantly, as has been noted, it is about Crown paying its fair dues. Now, taxation bills are probably not the most popular kind of bill a government can introduce, but I have got a sneaking suspicion that this one is likely to go down fairly well across the broader community, and it is because it is requiring a multibillion-dollar industry to do what is right and, as I said before, to pay its fair share. We all have a very strong sense of fairness and justice in this state of Victoria, and I know that the people of Monbulk do as well. When we see it, we know it.

I mentioned before that a significant portion of the wagering and betting tax is going to the Hospitals and Charities Fund. It is an incredibly important fund. It is used to support our hospital, health and community services across the state. It is fairly hard to argue that it is unworthy, isn’t it? Two hospitals, Casey Hospital in Berwick and the Angliss in Upper Ferntree Gully, serve the people of my electorate in Monbulk predominantly. The Angliss Hospital is actually located within Monbulk. We are very proud of it. It provides the most important health link for the majority of people living across the Dandenong Ranges. It has proudly served our community for over 80 years. We have actually done quite a bit as a state government at the Angliss Hospital. We have delivered $20 million for their new intensive care unit and short-stay unit, and early works are just about to commence on a $112 million multistorey building that is going to deliver a new inpatient unit, four operating theatres, a new central sterile supply department and spaces for outpatient services. Just outside the southern border of my electorate, Casey Hospital has seen major investment, including six new operating theatres and two upgraded theatres. This investment also provided 128 new multi-day beds, 12 intensive care unit beds and 12 day surgery beds. Projects like these are made possible by modern fit-for-purpose tax regimes, and the betting and wagering sphere is changing. It is increasingly becoming digitised and mobile, and this bill responds to those shifts in a responsible and sustainable way.

I just want to touch on the royal commission into Crown. I know that many of my wonderful colleagues in this place have done so as well, but it would be really remiss of me not to mention what went on. So this bill aims to stop the obfuscating of tax obligations which came to light in recent years. The royal commission identified Crown Melbourne’s lack of compliance with its tax obligations and recommended that casino taxation arrangements be brought under the TAA. Our government accepted this recommendation, acknowledging that the TAA has broad provisions regarding tax collection, penalty imposition, interest on tax defaults and record keeping, all of which contribute to an effective tax assessment. Crown’s underpayment of their casino tax showed a flagrant and complete disregard for the law. Its behaviour was egregious to say the least. In 2011 Crown Melbourne embarked upon a plan – a plan; it was by design, not by accident – to minimise its casino tax by claiming as deductions amounts that were not deductible items. They were dodging their taxes.

Luba Grigorovitch: Shame.

Daniela DE MARTINO: Shame indeed. If we did it, we would end up at the very, very pointy end of the law. So their plan involved concealing from the regulator the true nature of the deductions for fear of getting caught, and in the end it failed when the royal commission that our government set up caught them out. Crown Melbourne has already repaid significant sums in back taxes and interest, but this legislation will provide a sustainable model to ensure that going forward it will always pay what is due.

The bill also increases the total rates on casino gaming machines so that it is subject – Crown, when I say ‘it’ – to the same tax structure as venue operators with club entitlements. The new act will substitute the existing 31.5 per cent tax on casino electronic gaming machines with a progressive tax rate scale, bringing Victoria in line with other jurisdictions. It is going to safeguard taxation equity by ensuring the taxes paid by Crown Melbourne are not lower than rates at smaller not-for-profit, community-based venues, such as the local RSL down the road – though I will make note that none of the RSLs in Monbulk electorate has a poker machine. I would like to put that on the record. They are very proud of that.

Under the provisions outlined in this bill, the casino operator will be obligated to submit regular returns and make monthly payments of casino taxes to the commissioner. It will be on a level playing field with all the other gaming venues across the state. Once again, as I said, this bill is about Crown paying its fair share. Moreover – this is the part I do like, I have to say – the act includes various criminal offences related to taxation, ensuring accountability and deterring false information, deliberate omissions and tax evasion. The penalties for these offences are substantial and are applicable to both corporate taxpayers and their officers, meaning those who instigate this kind of activity cannot hide behind a veil anymore. By transferring the casino tax provisions to a dedicated gambling taxation act that operates under the TAA, we will align the legal framework and administration of casino tax with other major state taxes. The Andrews Labor government, through this strengthened legislative framework, will ensure the industry operates transparently and is held to account, with severe repercussions if found in breach of its obligations, and that is why I unequivocally commend this bill to the house.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (12:01): I too rise to speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. It is an absolute pleasure to rise to speak in support of this bill in this place, which was previously mentioned earlier this morning as the people’s Parliament and the people’s house indeed, and to talk on a bill that is just absolutely essential for all Victorians, particularly some of the most vulnerable Victorians, in going even further to ensure that they are protected from gambling harm and also, most importantly, making one of the biggest ends of town pay a fairer share of tax.

It was a really interesting contribution that we heard earlier from the member for Hastings, when he reflected upon the language that we use in this place to talk about problem gamblers and that it is probably more appropriate to talk about gambling addictions and gambling addicts in fact. It really did make me cast my mind back to my first memories of gambling and perhaps some of the ways in which it interacted with my family history in my early years growing up.

I think about my Nanna Jean, who has, very sadly, passed. She was a big one for heading off to the local bowling club and playing the pokies. I have talked about Nanna Jean here before. She went deaf at about age 50 or 60 – completely deaf – so she had that disability and that challenge in her life. Her husband by that time had passed away, and except for the presence of her children and grandchildren she was probably largely isolated in society because of that disability. There was nothing she loved more than heading over to the bowling club there at Kingscliff Beach, getting a cheap roast dinner and spending a bit of time on the pokies.

Nanna never had anything in her life and came from a very poor background. She would only, I think, be putting in 5- or 10-cent pieces, so she could spend quite a bit a time there once her pension money came in and play the pokies with those 5-cent pieces. But she never won anything; it was just purely enjoyment and a way to pass the time for her. I am not sure I would ever call her a gambling addict, but what I do remember is there being sort of cross words spoken in the house. I was very young at the time. She would always be encouraging her grandchildren, because none of her children ever wanted to go with her, to come down to the bowls club and, as the member for Hastings talked about, get a lemonade or something like that while she would pass the time playing the pokies. It was something that was very much frowned upon in my family.

As the member for Monbulk just talked about, having a punt every now and then is something that so many Victorians and Australians do enjoy, and none more than my brother Ben, who absolutely loves having a bit of a bet on Sportsbet depending on who is playing and what game he is watching. But he is someone that has tended to continue in my Nanna Jean’s footsteps. He loves going down to the bowling club when he is home from work and putting money into the pokies but, very sadly, he puts in a lot more than 5-cent pieces. Quite often, I know to the distress of my mother, when Ben actually does win some money on the pokies – he has been known to win quite a few thousand dollars on those machines, never knowing how much he does put in – unfortunately it is not money that he goes home to bank. He is very quick to spend it, and probably a lot of that money goes back into the machines. I am not standing here saying that my brother is perhaps a problem gambler or a gambling addict; he is someone who likes to punt. But I do reflect, now that he has a child, on what his son will see now that he is two and growing up and what his interactions with gambling and perhaps pokies and other things will be and if he will follow in the footsteps of my brother.

This is a really important bill. It takes a look at the tax arrangements that are in place for Crown Melbourne as our city’s biggest casino operator. We know that a lot of the findings about the way that Crown operates were that it has been unconscionable; the member for Monbulk talked very passionately about how absolutely abhorrent and predatory in nature that conduct was. The findings of the royal commission did back up those of the Bergin inquiry in New South Wales, which found that Crown Resorts was unsuitable to go ahead and hold a casino licence in Sydney.

Really importantly, in response to the royal commission our government has accepted all of its findings, and we have committed to implementing them in full. This legislation is part of that response. Time and time again we see this government on this side of the house introducing bills to the house that go about implementing in full our commitments regarding many, many royal commissions that we have introduced in this state.

In fact this is the fourth piece of legislation that deals directly with implementing the recommendations of the royal commission. It is in direct response to the final report being introduced in 2021. Our government quickly implemented nine recommendations through the Casino and Gambling Legislation Amendment Act 2021, and that included establishing, importantly, the special manager to monitor and oversee the casino as well as setting up the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission as the new regulator for the casino. That act went above and beyond the recommendations by making it clear that Crown will lose its licence at the end of the special manager oversight period unless the VGCCC is satisfied that they are suitable to continue operating a Melbourne casino, as well as increasing – and this is really important to have done – the maximum fine to $100 million.

To top it off, we also removed provisions under the licence’s management agreement that would have required us to compensate Crown Melbourne for any change in the regulations to reform their operations, because let us face it – and I think I speak on behalf of all Victorians here – Victorians should not be held to ransom by a casino to ensure that they have done the right thing. It is quite an outrageous notion to even consider really. In 2022 we built upon this and passed the Casino and Liquor Legislation Amendment Act 2022, which delivered a further two recommendations and strengthened the powers and the functions of inspectors and embedded harm minimisation from gambling into the objectives of the VGCCC. We also, importantly, expanded grounds for disciplinary action.

I also just want to touch on and say a few words about the Casino Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Implementation and Other Matters) Act 2022, which just passed in September last year. That delivered a further 12 recommendations with the aim of preventing money laundering at the casino, further reducing gambling-related harm and strengthening corporate ownership and governance arrangements, such as making carded play compulsory on all gambling machines and table games at the casino so that people can keep track of their spending and set fully binding time and money limits. In addition to this, the legislation paved the way for mandatory precommitment to come into effect at the casino. That is going to require all gambling activity to be tracked and cash limits of $1000 per 24 hours for both pokies and table games.

So you can see here that some of these recommendations and reforms coming through this bill and others that have been introduced to this house are going a long way to setting limits and having further rail guards for people that are struggling, not as problem gamblers but as gambling addicts who struggle to maintain self-control. We are going to step in and provide those rail guards to minimise the amount of money that they are pouring into Melbourne’s and Victoria’s largest casinos.

This is a really important bill, as I have talked about. There have been many stories here shared in this place about gambling addicts and just punters. I think it is important to talk about the stories of punters like my brother, who does have a lot of fun with his mates down at the bowls club – great social times. I do think that it is okay that he is down there having social activity and that kind of thing with his mates, but this type of legislation quite often does not go to the protections and the safeguards that people like my brother need, it goes to gambling addicts who have a much more serious addiction to gambling and are unable to restrain themselves. So this is very much a bill that I am very proud to stand in this house and speak on, and I commend it to the house.

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (12:11): I rise today to speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. Member for Frankston, I thank you for your support over there of me rising to speak about this bill. I congratulate the government on bringing this bill in. I think it is important that we are implementing what the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence has suggested, especially in regard to Crown Casino – we all know that Crown were dodging and weaving for quite a few years. If I had one criticism of the government, it would be that it could have done it sooner. For the best part of the last two decades it has been a Labor government; we have only been in for four years. But I am grateful that they have taken a positive step forward in addressing the issues with this.

It was interesting listening to the member for Hastings talk earlier about his mate who had a gambling problem, and I have a lot of friends that also like a punt, and there is nothing wrong with that. I used to be captain at the Warragul Country Club and we have a pokie venue there, and quite often I would walk through the venue. I am not a punter myself. I do not use pokies; I find them extremely boring and brain-numbing. But I look in there and I can see people just sitting there and pressing a button and pressing a button and pressing a button and not really knowing what time of day it is. And you hear horror stories where people will leave their kids in car parks and things like that, so I think any reform on gambling is good reform, and I congratulate the government on this.

But I will also point out that there are some positives with gambling taxation, and this brings me back to my local community. The two pokie venues in my community, being the Warragul Country Club and the Warragul Downtowner, are regulated every year to give money back to the local community through pokie revenue. I think it is about $100,000 a year; I could be wrong. Many of you probably do not know, but through the election campaign last year and on being elected I have actually been working on four units for homeless women in our area. In my district we have about 500 homeless people every night, and quite often older women are the most vulnerable – and this is for women over 55 – because they may not have anywhere to go, they may not have that parent left at home. The community has got behind this project for homeless women, and I would say to date we are pushing in community donations over $300,000 to get this project completed for vulnerable people. But this brings me back to the Warragul Country Club and the Warragul Downtowner: they got together, and every year they have got to give support, and between the two venues they donated $6000 to this project. That will hopefully pay for the air conditioning and heating units that are required in the project.

So gambling taxation is not a bad thing, and I think in this instance the government has done the right thing. It does bring us in line with New South Wales, which will give consistency across the two states. But I suppose where I get really concerned is the support for gambling addicts. Everyone in this chamber would know someone that just cannot control themselves when it comes to gambling. Being new to this house, I see the support that the government gives to safe injecting rooms, for example, but I do not know if I see that level of support for gambling addicts. I would actually like the government to go a little bit further with that, because we do know that addiction is a problem. We know that a lot of people cannot control their addiction. You could nearly call it a disease. I would like the government to go further with this. I know they are trying, and I know they are pushing forward on reforms, but gambling addiction and drug addiction are probably two scourges of the community that really do wreck people’s lives. If the government can implement a program to support gambling addicts, that will be a positive program. When that comes forward I will support that as well.

It is a 5 per cent rise in taxation, with 4 per cent back to the industry and 1 per cent to consolidated revenue, which I think will end up back in the industry anyway. The industry does need support. It does employ a lot of people, and it has a lot of positive impacts on our economy through employment. People going to Flemington and having a race day out – that is fine; that supports a lot of employment as well. So we do not want to see the industry collapse – that would be a mistake – but we do want to see the industry being proactive in what they do. I go back to that supporting addicts would be a really, really positive step.

When we talk about gambling, we do not want to hang people out to dry just because they have a punt. When you go back to the world wars, we were playing two-up. That is having a punt, and there is nothing wrong with that. But we do have to really bring people back and make them aware that you do not want this to control your life. Like the member for Hastings, I have had people close to me where gambling has destroyed their life. It is sad when people cannot afford to put food on the table for their kids or they cannot afford to take their kids on a holiday because they just get so consumed by what gambling is. As I said earlier, I am not a punter; I do not think I will ever be a punter. I do not mind having a bet every now and again – you have a bet on the Melbourne Cup or you might be out with your friends and having a bet – but I do like what the government has done here with this bill. I think it is a really positive step forward. I am so grateful they have taken in the royal commission report. Holding Crown Casino to account is an important thing. Their behaviour was abhorrent, as other members before me have said. They need to be brought into line, and the government has done the right thing here with this bill.

In closing, I think what we need to do looking forward, as members of this house, is actually have more bipartisan support when it comes to issues like this. In here we can be red or blue or green, but when it comes down to people that are the most vulnerable in our communities, it is nice to see the whole house come together and say ‘This is a good idea’. I congratulate the government, and I commend this bill in full.

Matt FREGON (Ashwood) (12:19): I agree with the member for Narracan. It is fantastic to be in this house when we all do agree on something. If I remember the member for Mordialloc’s contribution yesterday, the member was saying that one in five – about 20 per cent – of gamblers have a problem with their gambling. I think he gave another figure, which was that about 70 per cent of people gamble. My quick maths says about one in seven people in this state have a problem with gambling. I presume that is adults – you would hope, although I will get to that in a bit, and I have got another soapbox that I will stand on for that.

It is good to see that this house accepts that this is a good bill and that we all agree on the changes to the point-of-consumption tax (POCT) and rectifying the gaming provisions. Like others in the house I will go to those problems that I mentioned earlier about the problem gamblers. How do we address those issues whilst accepting that this is an industry that has its place in Victoria? Speaker, I know you have done a lot of work with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, and I know other members have also – it was the member for Kororoit who mentioned she is now on there. It is something that members on both sides of the house have worked on and sequential governments have worked on, but the problem will not go away. I think we can accept that for as long as we have gambling – and we will probably always have gambling – we will always have a problem of gambling harm.

The thing that concerns me, and I raised this in this house in the last term of government, is that we have a problem with teaching our young how to gamble in gaming. Loot boxes – for those new members who have not heard me rant on about this, some video games which I like playing and kids like playing have gambling-like behaviour in them. If you play a game like, say, FIFA, a soccer game, you can put real money into the game. You spin the wheel, the lights flash and you get a set of what are essentially digital footy cards, but you have no idea what you are getting. You could get Lionel Messi, you could get the third-string goalkeeper for a team in wherever, who I am sure is very good but he is not Lionel Messi. Effectively that is gambling.

When you look at our Gambling Regulation Act 2003, there is a set of three bullet points, which I do not remember off by heart, that essentially say ‘This is what we deem as gambling in the state of Victoria’. When you consider loot boxes in games like FIFA, they tick those three boxes: something of value is wagered, there is a chance of value returning; I forget what the third is. To me, it is not the same as putting your money in a poker machine, it is not the same as necessarily betting on a trifecta at the races, but it is the same practice. And the same techniques that are used by the electronic gaming manufacturers in pokies – the lights, the buzzers and that sort of dopamine-inducing adrenaline rush that people get on pokies – are the same sort of techniques that gaming manufacturers use in things like FIFA, NBA and other games, and they do that because it works. If it did not work, they would not do it.

To their credit the industry has been put on notice in the last number of years by some other countries. The Netherlands and Belgium have outlawed loot boxes in games. Austria has recently made a change, and in other countries like ours the manufacturers are moving to do some self-management or put in self-limiting features, similar to things that we were talking about in regard to Crown where you can set your own limits. The thing is you can change limits, so whilst it is a good thing, it does not fix the problem.

I am not going to be political here. The classification system for our video games is a federal matter – it is not something that the state has jurisdiction over – and there have been numerous inquiries in our federal Parliament over the last five or six years. Two of them at least have said that loot boxes are an issue and they are an issue that increases and potentially leads to gambling later on, but up until very recently there has been no change.

I was very happy to see – and credit to her – that Minister Rowland in Canberra has put forward a change, which our state Attorneys-General will discuss, that any video games that include outright gambling should be R+, so 18 and over, and any games that include simulated gambling, so loot boxes, should be M+. At the very least that means that when I as a parent go to buy the latest whatever – the new Zelda came out; my son was very, very excited last Friday, so he got an early birthday present – and that game includes gambling, I do not necessarily know whether there are loot boxes or whether there is cash that can be exchanged for avatars or whatever. At least with classification I am aware without having to go to Google and look up exactly what is in there. This is a really good first step. I would potentially argue, on a personal note, that we could probably say that that should fall under the POCT, and there would probably be a bit of income coming from the gamers, but they probably do not want me to say that. I hope that our Attorneys-General for this country will strongly consider and agree with what Minister Rowland is putting forward. I think it is a step towards having a further discussion about what we are teaching our kids.

A number of members have mentioned this over the week on this bill and the previous bill. When you have 14-year-old or 15-year-old kids who are talking about how the Doggies are going to beat the Hawks – everyone is going to beat the Hawks at the moment, but anyway – 5 to 1 instead of ‘We’re going to smash ya’, that is how it permeates throughout society. I go back to the Brownlow last year. We all love watching the Brownlow, but it was every ad, every round. I mean, I would ask the AFL and Channel 7 – is it still on 7? I cannot remember – for it to be not on every ad. You do not need to tell me, surely, that I can get a multi on round 15, that these guys played well and that if I am quick I can get in and maybe recoup half the losses I am about to lose. And then I can put some more money in and chat with my friends at the same time. For people who want to do that, great, knock yourself out. I really hope you do not have a problem with it; I hope you can walk away. But for the rest of us watching with our kids, with our teenagers or younger in the room, I do not need you to tell them – and I still want to watch the Brownlow. So I would ask the powers that be that we do not have jurisdiction over to consider that as well.

Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (12:29): It is a pleasure to rise and speak on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. Just before I do I would like to reflect on the member for Prahran’s contribution from a little bit earlier. The member for Prahran came into this place, as did other members of the Greens political party, to lecture us, lecture the government, on housing and on homelessness in one of the more extraordinary contributions that I have heard this week, and I have heard many of the contributions from the member for Brighton, so that is indeed saying something. To come in here and lecture us on housing when your federal party is opposing a bill for the largest program for social and affordable housing that this country has ever seen is absurd. When you have Greens councils across Melbourne opposing developments for social and affordable housing, to come in here and lecture us is absurd.

The Greens do not have much of a presence in my electorate of Tarneit, but gee, I wish some of the voters around the inner city of Melbourne – some of the voters around Prahran, Richmond, Melbourne and Brunswick – could come into this place and see how the Greens operate. We know that they do not open their office on a Friday – we know that – but most of the time they do not rock up to work here until 2 o’clock either. The member for Prahran came in, had 20 minutes to speak and spoke for 4 – all of it absolute dross. It is a joke, and the Greens political party is an absolute joke. Now that I have got that off my chest, we can go to the contents of the bill at hand.

Paul Edbrooke: No-one is disagreeing with you.

Dylan WIGHT: This bill does a few things. The Gambling Taxation Bill 2023 consolidates Victoria’s gambling taxes; strengthens casino taxation, which is something that is incredibly important; and implements key recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence. That royal commission came about after a New South Wales-based inquiry that found that Crown Casino in Melbourne was not suitable to hold a licence. It made a number of findings and a number of recommendations. This bill, as I said, picks up all of those recommendations and indeed goes further.

Out of that royal commission we saw – it was uncovered – some of the more egregious acts that we have seen in this space, really ever. It found that Crown had improperly claimed deductions in casino tax calculations, resulting in significant underpayments in tax to the state, and the member for Point Cook made an incredibly eloquent contribution around this point much earlier. It resulted in, as I said, significant underpayments – in the tens of millions of dollars. It is easy to just think, ‘Oh, they didn’t pay their tax. They’ll pay it back.’ That is money out of the pocket of every single Victorian. That is money that can be used to upgrade schools – indeed to upgrade schools in my electorate in either Tarneit or Hoppers Crossing – to build the roads that we need to get around our great state and to upgrade rail transport as well.

The royal commission recommended amending the Taxation Administration Act 1997 to include penalty and offence provisions for casino taxes payable by Crown Melbourne. This was seen as a necessary measure to ensure proper administration, enforcement and penalties for tax defaults. It also found there were associations with known criminals and money-laundering activity. It was incredibly important that we had this royal commission. It was something of incredible public importance and should have been important to every single Victorian, whether they like to have a bet or not.

What this bill also does, which is of particular interest to me – if those in this chamber have not figured it out yet, I like horseracing – is increase the point-of-consumption tax. I will speak about it in respect to the Victorian racing industry in particular. As I said in my contribution, I believe it was on Tuesday, on the Gambling Regulation Amendment Bill 2023, the Victorian racing industry is something that is incredibly important to this state, not just to people who like to have a bet and not just to people who enjoy the entertainment of horseracing, it is an incredibly important economic driver in this state – $4.7 billion of economic activity to be exact. Half of that is made up of household income. The racing industry supports 120,000 full-time equivalent jobs, including hundreds of jobs in my area of Wyndham, both at the Werribee racetrack on race day, where there will be hundreds of people employed, and at the adjacent quarantine, veterinary and breeding facilities.

What the increase in this point-of-consumption tax does is increase the contribution from betting turnover from 3.5 to 7.5 per cent, and that will result in additional funding for the racing industry of $120 million per year. To put that into layman’s terms, when we talk about a larger contribution of betting turnover, that is one of the main ways that the racing industry is funded and indeed one of the main ways that the jobs and economic activity in this industry continue to be sustainable. As I said, make no mistake: this industry sustains families through employment. What will happen is that that share of turnover will increase from 3.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

I have heard some commentary outside of this place both that this is a tax on punters and that bookmakers and corporate bookmakers will pass this loss onto punters. Just to be clear: corporate bookmakers in this state and in this country have been ripping punters off for years, for as long as they have existed to be exact. Once upon a time when you would go to a racecourse and bet with a smaller bookmaker on course or indeed bet on the exchange, a market would typically open at about 115 per cent and an SP bookmaker would open at about 110 per cent. That 115 per cent means that the margin is 15 per cent, so as long as the book is set right – and make no mistake, corporate bookmakers do not set their books wrong – they will make 15 per cent irrespective of which horse wins.

If you go to Sportsbet or Ladbrokes – pick your poison, it does not matter – and look at race 2 today when that market opens, that market will open at 130 per cent. There is a 30 per cent margin in that market, so the notion that this is going to be the change that makes odds worse for punters and that it is a tax on punters is absolutely absurd. Corporate bookmakers have been ripping punters off for years, and this change makes absolutely no difference. For those bookmakers that are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year, if they were to pass this small rise on, I think that would be absolutely reprehensible. This bill is incredibly important to support that fantastic industry, and I commend it to the house.

Steve McGHIE (Melton) (12:39): I rise to contribute to the debate on the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023, and any opportunity that I have to get up and declare that I am a gambler, I will do so. I certainly will profess that I have never been a very good gambler, but I am very consistent. I persist with it until I improve, but I struggle over times, let me tell you. I bet on all forms of racing. I like variety and I do love the horses. I note the member for Tarneit, who has just left the chamber, is a good horseracing fan, and I do love the horses.

Melton is the heart of harness racing in Victoria, if not Australia, and I do get to Tabcorp Park in Melton quite a bit for many events but also to have a bit of a flutter on the harness races. I do remember in my time as an ambulance paramedic when I used to go to the trots at the Melbourne Showgrounds. We would go into the first-aid room when we first got there and we would have our race book marked off by people in the first-aid room with who was going to win that night. I can tell you I went home many nights without backing a winner even though the book was marked by people that thought they were experts. But anyway, these sorts of things happen.

This is the fourth tranche of legislation implementing the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence recommendations. Earlier the member for Preston made a good point: it is a bad look when the government needs to initiate a royal commission to look at an agency and the nefarious and harmful operations and practices that they have. I make reference to the member for Hastings, and I congratulate him on his contribution. He reminded us earlier that there are no new taxes in this bill. This is about making sure that the multinational, tax-dodging, mammoth, global conglomerates are paying their fair share back to this state for the people of this state to benefit from that money that they drag out of the pockets of Victorians and the vulgar profits that they extract from local communities across Victoria.

This bill does many things, and I am very pleased to see our government giving strength to the regulators to regulate. It has been a bugbear of mine for many years that some of our regulators have not regulated well, and I am pleased to see that this bill will allow that.

The bill consolidates and amends various taxation acts, but it introduces new and strengthened casino taxing arrangements starting in a few weeks, at the beginning of the next financial year. It also extends the application of the Taxation Administration Act 1997 to strengthen arrangements and cover casino taxes payable by Crown Melbourne. It also re-enacts provisions to provide a single legislative vehicle to address gambling taxes administered by the commissioner. It will ensure that Crown are lodging their returns and paying their taxes monthly rather than for an extended period of time, and this requirement is going to ensure that there is a regular and enforceable watch on their actions. Obviously it is much easier to enforce something when you see the regularity or any irregularities in what they are supposed to do. We cannot allow the situation of deliberate exploitation to get a hold again. It is something that was exposed, and this is what this bill is trying to address.

A casino operator will be required to register with the commissioner and lodge returns and pay casino tax and the community benefit levy in respect of each month from 1 July 2023. Electronic gaming machines operated by a casino operator will be subject to the same tax structure as electronic gaming machines operated by venue operators with club entitlements.

The bill also provides for the imposition of a keno tax – if you do not know what keno is, I am not going to waste anyone’s time explaining it –making sure that keno entities are lodging a return with the commissioner monthly and paying their taxes. This is not a new tax for hardworking Victorians. It is what keno entities owe, and people that have been into any licensed clubs will have seen the TV screens with keno numbers on them. It is probably a broader version of TattsLotto, to some degree, where you try and select numbers and try and win some money from it. I do not think I have ever seen anyone win on keno. I assume there are people that have won on it, but not in many of the clubs that I have been to.

The bill details an increase in the rate of the wagering and betting tax from 10 per cent to 15 per cent from next year, and I should say that the point-of-consumption tax introduction was a good thing. In 2019 Victoria introduced a point-of-consumption tax for sport and race betting. We now know that this means that all sport and race betting losses by Victorian punters are recorded in Victoria for taxation purposes regardless of whether they bet with a Victorian bookmaker or one licensed interstate. This is information that is published by the State Revenue Office, and it shows that estimated sport and racing betting losses increased from $1.65 billion in 2019–20 to $2.58 billion in 2021–22. It is a significant amount of money in regard to betting losses.

Increasing the tax of these tax-minimising vampires – I will call them – not only brings us into line with other states but benefits Victorians in more ways than we can imagine. The Victorian racing industry has been able to stabilise and build on their industry, and these changes are very much welcomed by the Victorian racing industry and their stakeholders. I spoke about the racing industry, and in particular the harness racing industry – about how many jobs it provides. I think in harness racing it is about 4300 jobs. Certainly in the thoroughbred industry it would be that if not more. It is important. The good thing about these industries is that families can get involved. There is a lot of history behind families being involved in regard to these industries – in horseracing and even in harness racing. The taxes are directly redistributed to vital and benevolent funds, like the Anzac Day Proceeds Fund and the Hospitals and Charities Fund, which are two very worthy causes that can be utilised in a very positive way.

I spoke earlier this week about the harm that comes from gambling, and it may help if I quantify it. In the LGA of Melton $167,460 is spent on pokies every day. That is in excess of $61 million per year, and we have seven pokie venues in the LGA of Melton with 523 poker machines. That is only half of what they are allocated, so they can have a lot more than the 523. Melton is the thirteenth LGA in terms of highest expenditure on gaming machines across Victoria. They are allowed to have 824 gaming machines. It amounts to on average per day, spent by an adult on a gaming machine in the Melton LGA, of around $452. That is an average per person. If you factor that in, there are obviously a small amount of people that are spending a lot of money on gaming machines per day, considering that a lot of people would not gamble at all. You have just got to wonder about those people that are averaging $452 per day on a gaming machine. We go on about the cost of living, yet we are dragging this money out of people’s pockets – I would say unnecessarily – without the proper supports and things like that.

Of course there is a lot of enticement of people into these gambling dens. There are a lot of incentives for people to gamble and bet, in particular the online stuff nowadays. It is almost like a magnet dragging money out of your pocket. For someone like me at my age, I cannot get my head around electronic gambling. I have got no idea how to do it. I am pleased that I do not do it, even though I enjoy gambling. I am one of these old-fashioned ones that would fill it out with a pen in a TAB and stick it in the machine and get a ticket back. I love to go to the races and bet with the bookies, because it is easier – it does not mean to say you win, as the member for Tarneit explained earlier – but I just cannot get my head around electronic gambling. I will not get involved with it, and I hate the incentives that they give. I think the younger generation get caught up with it. This is an incredibly important bill. I am pleased that the opposition are not opposing it, and I commend the bill to the house.

Jackson TAYLOR (Bayswater) (12:49): It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in support of the Gambling Taxation Bill 2023. From the outset I thank the Treasurer and relevant ministers and relevant departments and all the teams who have put together this really important piece of legislation. Indeed, also from the outset, I want to just reflect on some of the contributions from speakers: firstly, the member for Narracan. It was good to hear from him and hear, in a sentiment of bipartisanship, how gambling harm impacts his community and also how he is absolutely in support of this bill. There are some days in Parliament when we all work as a team. It happens probably more often than not and more often is reflected outside these chambers, so it was wonderful to hear the member for Narracan’s contribution. The member for Hastings, in his first contribution on a bill, made a fantastic speech and really articulated well some of the tragic stories he heard about the impact that gambling has on families, on individuals and in particular on constituents in his local community. The member for Pakenham spoke about the importance of minimising the harm that gambling causes in the lives of our local constituents and also spoke about that balancing act and the importance of the industry – the Pakenham Racing Club, I believe. And both the member for Pakenham and the member for Tarneit went on to detail the racing industry, the amount of jobs and the economic activity it creates – some billions of dollars. It is certainly not insignificant.

The member for Monbulk rightly pointed out the horrible stuff we saw from Crown Casino – the tax dodging. Obviously this legislation, in response to the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence, goes a long way to addressing those issues with the Andrews Labor government’s commitment to respond to those recommendations. She also spoke of her delight at her RSLs not having any electronic gaming machines – not having any pokies. I am happy to report that none of the RSLs in my electorate have any pokies either – the Bayswater and Boronia RSLs. Much like the member for Monbulk spoke about, it is a great pleasure for me that my RSLs do not have any pokies.

Deputy Speaker, in your contribution on this bill you spoke about how the online gambling environment has changed and how gambling itself has changed. I want to come to that point in a tick. Why are we here? We are here of course because of the royal commission in large part. This bill has several elements to it, but it is first and foremost about responding to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence and strengthening oversight of Crown. The Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence was established in February 2021 to inquire into and report on the suitability of Crown Melbourne to hold its casino licence. Of course the Victorian government initiated the royal commission in response to serious findings in the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry, which found Crown Resorts was unsuitable to hold a casino licence at the Sydney Barangaroo complex. We know the recommendations from the royal commission’s report were delivered on 15 October 2021.

I am really pleased that this legislation is before the house. I am really pleased at the bipartisanship that it has received from most despite some of the amendments from the Greens. I will not get into that. I think the member for Tarneit handled them quite well. I am very pleased to be part of a government that is spending quite some time reforming the gambling industry, understanding that important balance, advocating to other levels of government – Deputy Speaker, you covered some of the levers that are not, obviously, in our reach – and advocating to the federal government for change, as some of the contributions today talked about. Loot boxes – no-one had even heard of that phrase five years ago, if not more recently, to be quite frank. But our government has done a lot of work around some of the things we can do: ads around schools and increasing funding to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, who do critically important work. And we have made other reforms over the course of the journey through pieces of legislation that have come through this place – for example, the Casino Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Implementation and Other Matters) Act 2022, passed by Parliament last year, delivered on 12 more recommendations addressing the prevention of money laundering at the casino, minimising gambling-related harm and strengthening corporate ownership and governance arrangements. So that was another important piece of legislation last year, continuing our government’s commitment to minimising gambling harm and playing an important role and always continuing to find that really important balance, supporting family and supporting individuals who absolutely need it.

As well, I want to detail some instances from the last 4½ years. I have heard some very, very tragic stories of locals in my electorate who have certainly experienced gambling addiction. It is a very, very serious thing. I have been no stranger to detailing some of my experiences in life. I had a very interesting childhood, and this was before the time of all the online gambling, so I do not know what it would be like if I had to relive it again but with a whole bunch of ads – just being spammed and targeted, with your data sold and them knowing every inch and every minute of detail of what you do on your phone, finding you on free-to-air TV and all of that.

I remember in my childhood that I would literally have to go down to the ANZ bank – at about 10 years old – I would have to ride down there and I would have to put my dad’s second ATM card in before my dad pulled the rest out, minus the mortgage. So I would go down there, and I knew I had to hit ‘other account’. I put the number in and I put the PIN in, and I still remember those numbers today. I did that because my father was addicted to gambling. I can say he is doing much, much better now. In fact he hardly gambles at all. He is much like me now. We just put 20, 30 bucks on the Melbourne Cup – in the last couple of years I actually won quite a substantial amount of money – but that is literally my only bet, and that is where my father is now. But back then that was my experience. Rolling up to the ATM at 7 o’clock at night outside of daylight saving was not fun as a 10-year-old.

I remember Mum had her own issues. During school times my dad would literally leave and he would not be back for days, sometimes weeks. On some of those occasions my mum would say, ‘Get on your bike and go follow him.’ So I would be with my dad while he would be off on his gambling binges, with alcohol et cetera. I would stay in random places, and I would hang with him; that is how I would think about it. I would be with him for three or four days, and I was there to basically make sure that he was okay. That is what gambling does to people. I would stay in random motels, I would be in the licensed venues – and no-one said a thing. I was always there, the 10-year-old – I think potentially even younger. I remember going to the racetrack with Dad, and that was just what my life was.

So it is always important as a government that we continue to understand how the environment of gambling is changing, how we have to continue to use our levers to protect families, like mine growing up, understand – Deputy Speaker, as in part of the contribution you made that I highlighted previously – how gambling has changed and continue that advocacy to the federal government about how gambling advertising works and how it is playing a real role in the lives of people who should not know about gambling. I have got 13-year-olds coming to me going ‘You were $1.70 on Sportsbet last year’ or something like that, and I am like, ‘How do you even know?’

A member: You were less than that.

Jackson TAYLOR: I got to less than that, you are right. But there is a time and a place, and teenagers and young people should not know about and should not be exposed and privy to gambling ads en masse, continuously. It is really harming our kids, and I have great concerns. I think it is important that we mention that and we continue to advocate to the federal government on those matters.

But of course I am very proud as well that as part of this legislation the point-of-consumption tax is going to guarantee certainty to the racing industry but also is going to help the Hospital and Charities Fund to continue to do their important work. As well, Crown Casino will pay their fair share. The Andrews Labor government has a very bold, positive agenda to deliver for all Victorians, and making sure that Crown pays their fair share goes to delivering things like the Angliss Hospital upgrade and like the rebuild of Maroondah Hospital and the upgrade of Boronia station. It is critically important legislation, but it is not everything when it comes to minimising gambling harm; it is an important step in the right direction. It is a fantastic piece of legislation that does so much, and of course our government will continue to do more. I commend this bill to the house.

Paul EDBROOKE (Frankston) (12:59): Jeez, there are times in this place when you have to reflect upon the power of some individual MPs and their contributions. I have just been sitting here, as the rest of the house has, in stunned silence listening to the member for Bayswater. Thank you for sharing your story. Sitting here in a sterile green chamber – sorry, clerks, I know you try and make it homely for us – often we talk about legislation that changes people’s lives, but to hear someone from this chamber talking about a piece of legislation for a sector where their life has been changed by things that happened in that sector is incredible.

Sitting suspended 1:00 pm until 2:01 pm.

Business interrupted under standing orders.