Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson believes that the service of alcohol and all gambling activity in clubs designated as refuges should cease while emergency declarations are in place.

The clubs sector, however, believes that excessive micromanagement would deter clubs from participating, particularly since many venues already do what Dr Paterson intends to enforce.

Today, Dr Paterson submitted amendments to the ACT Legislative Assembly Scrutiny committee to be assessed in line with the Gaming Machine (Club Refuge) Amendment Bill 2022 that Shane Rattenbury MLA, Minister for Gaming, introduced late last year.

• ACT clubs will become refuges from heat and smoke (1 December 2022)

Her amendments, she said, aim to strengthen the Bill, and allow self-excluded people to seek refuge during the declaration period.

“As long as clubs facilitate gambling activity, particularly poker machines, any government legislation that facilitates or encourages entry to these venues needs to ensure that the risk of people experiencing gambling harm is reduced or zero,” Dr Paterson said.

She is concerned the Bill lacks harm-minimisation measures to protect vulnerable people who may enter a club as a result of a government-declared emergency, such as a smoke or heat event.

As the Bill stands, alcohol service and gambling activity can continue in the venue during a government declaration. Venues will be required to have an area separate from both gaming machines and an open bar, so that it is suitable to be used as a heat and smoke refuge.

Dr Paterson also fears that people who exclude themselves from venues, in her view some of Canberra’s most vulnerable people, will not be able to enter a venue during a government emergency declaration.

 “Canberrans should be able to access a safe and inclusive environment when seeking refuge in an extreme event,” Dr Paterson said. “This means not exposing people to gambling and alcohol in times of extreme stress.

“People who may require access to a club during a ‘smoke and heat’ event are potentially the most vulnerable in our community; they … do not have cooling or good ventilation in their homes. These extreme weather or bushfire events are often times that could be considered periods of high mental and physical stress. Government facilitating people’s access to venues that serve alcohol and gambling products during this time is highly problematic from a harm minimisation perspective.”

The MLA hopes to work closely with Mr Rattenbury and the club sector to see amendments moved that address this risk in the Bill.

The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) echoed Dr Paterson’s concerns: “A community club should only be considered for use as a heat and smoke refuge if the club is pokie- and gambling-free or if all gambling and alcohol service is ceased for the period that the club is used as a refuge.”

However, Craig Shannon, CEO of ClubsACT, said: “We have a concern that by the time the micromanaging of the legislative requirements for these operations of the refuges is completed, it’s going to micromanage venues out of participating. Our members were already providing this level of support historically to the community without legislation. And now there seems to be an excessive attempt to define and legislate the parameters of the way this would operate to the point that it may actually create an environment where venues do not participate.

“Whatever the scenario is in the end, our members will work within the legislative framework to the best extent that they can.”