Victorian Local Governance
Association
Gambling Policy and Litigation Group
Department of Treasury and Finance
1Treasury Place
East Melbourne, 3002 VIC
Via email: gaming entitlement.term review@dtf.vic.gov.au
30 June 2014
Dear Sir/Madam
I write to provide a brief response to the Gaming Entitlement Term Review Issues Paper.
These comments are in addition to a joint letter to the Treasurer, Han. Michael O'Brien,
from the Victorian Local Governance Association, the Victorian Council of Social Service,
the Victorian Interchurch Taskforce and the Australian Church's Gambling Taskforce.
A copy of this letter is attached for your information.
The Victorian Local Governance Association makes the following points.
The current entitlements terms are not due to expire for a further eight yea rs. No clear
rationale has been provided in the Gaming Entitlement Term Review I ssues Paper for an
urgent review of these entitlements (by September 2014). The curre nt ten yea r
entitlement term provides an appropriate timeframe to review the effects of EGMs on the
community and to consider news measures to make EGM gambling safer .
There is concern that a rushed review of the entitlements will have the unintended
consequence of restricting public input into the review process . There is, therefore, a
heightened risk of a poor outcome for the Victorian community. We noted that previously
entitlements were received significantly below market va lue.
Accordingly/ we propose that the consultation is not limited to industry stake holders but
acknowledges the responsible interests of the community. We also encourage that all
submiss ions to the review, along with the interim and final reports, s hould be publicly
available.
We welcome any further opportunity to be involved in the Gaming Entitlement Te rm
Review.
ndrew Hollows
Chief Executive Officer
Suite G06. 60 Leicester Street. Carlton Victoria 3053
Telephone: (03) 9349 7999 Fax: (03) 9347 9933 Email: vlga@vlga.org.a u Website: www.v lga.org.au
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