NSW government abandons clubs reform bill despite crime commission report

The state government will abandon a bill to reform clubs in the wake of the damning NSW Crime Commission report, thwarting a push to make cashless gaming cards mandatory before the election.

Powerful independent MP Alex Greenwich, with the support of other crossbenchers including the Greens, was planning to move an amendment to the government’s registered clubs bill before parliament to make cashless cards mandatory in clubs.

His push came after the highly anticipated report from the powerful NSW Crime Commission last week found “a significant amount of money which is put through poker machines is the proceeds of crime”, including drug dollars. The report called for the introduction of cashless gaming cards.

Greenwich’s move would have wedged the Coalition and Labor, who would have been forced to take a position on the cashless cards ahead of the state election.

However, the bill – which would reform how clubs operate, including a provision to allow the use of facial recognition, and excluding problem gamblers – has been put on ice and will not be debated during the final sitting weeks of Parliament.

Facial recognition technology is backed by ClubsNSW, the powerful lobby group representing registered clubs, and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA).

The government introduced the bill to parliament before the Crime Commission’s report was released, but the proposed amendment would have created a political headache for the government, which does not have enough seats in the lower house to pass legislation on its own. It would also have come up against fierce opposition from pubs and clubs, which do not want a mandatory card imposed on them.

Greenwich said it was a missed opportunity, but he would pursue legislation in the next term of parliament. He and the Greens opposed the facial recognition technology, arguing that it was not a true harm-minimisation measure.

“While I welcome the government acknowledging more reform of clubs is needed as a result of the Crime Commission report, we could have legislated a transition to cashless cards this year through my amendments to the bill the government has now pulled,” Greenwich said.

“I’ll now focus my energy on a private members bill for a universal cashless card across all gaming venues, and make this a priority in any discussions about minority government in the next term.”

Minister for Hospitality Kevin Anderson said the government “would respond to all recommendations” of the crime commission’s report “in due course”.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet last week said he would not be waiting until after the election to act on the commission’s report, which he described as “damning”.

“I am not going to have criminal activity occurring in pubs and clubs across our state, it’s not happening, so I’ll work with the industry to fix it, and we’re going to fix it,” he said.

Labor leader Chris Minns said the report was “very troubling” but would not commit to supporting a cashless card.

Unrelated to the bill, the government confirmed earlier this month that a 12-week cashless gaming card trial was underway after delays to it starting and would now roll into 2023. The opt-in wallet will be linked to a player’s identity and an Australian bank account, and will include harm-minimisation protections such as spending limits and real-time spending data.

The trial, originally slated for August, is the closest NSW has come to the digital gambling card pushed by Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello but blocked by fierce industry opposition. Dominello subsequently lost the portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle in December.

Across NSW, poker machine turnover soared from $74 billion in 2019-20 to $85 billion in 2020-21, which was equivalent to a quarter of all household consumption spending that year.

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