Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move the amendment standing in my name on sheet 7079:

(1)   Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 8), after item 1, insert:

  1A At the end of subsection 43(1)

     Add:

     ; or (c)   in the case of an eligible gaming machine venue—a person cashes in winnings of more than $1,000.

I indicate, as foreshadowed in my second reading contribution, that this is a very important issue. It relates to very serious concerns about money laundering at poker machine venues. I refer to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald that say that nationally $2 billion has been laundered through poker machines and gambling chips at hotels, clubs and casinos—as much as 40 per cent of that amount in New South Wales alone. There are also reports that certain venues are known by crime gangs as LLs, or local laundries. This is an important issue.

The current position is that venues are required by statute to pay certain winnings by cheque— as I understand it, in Victoria it is $1,000—so there is a record or a money trail, if you like. In New South Wales it is $2,000. My understanding is that in South Australia it is in the vicinity of $1,500. I cannot be absolutely certain of that, but it is in that order. The fact is that there are not too many jackpots of more than $1,000 each day at a venue. It is not onerous. It is quite reasonable that these transactions be monitored. If the reports in the Sydney Morning Herald are correct—that we are talking about $2 billion being laundered this way—and we want to tackle the issue of organised crime and money laundering, this amendment should be passed.

I must say that I have had my run-ins—and I will continue to have my run-ins—with the hotel, club and casino industries in this country, but I accept that they would not in any way countenance this sort of behaviour. I urge them to support this measure. I am sure that people such as Anthony Ball, the head of Clubs Australia, would be horrified at any suggestion that there is money laundering occurring at Australian clubs, poker machine venues or, indeed, hotels. That is something that I think they would have genuine concerns about. I think it is important. We have an opportunity to strengthen this legislation. If we did not include these amendments, it would mean a weakened piece of legislation. It would ignore the very significant amounts of money that are being laundered through poker machine venues by virtue of what I indicated earlier: you go in, load up a machine with up to $10,000 in some jurisdictions, play the machine for a while, lose $200 or $300, press the cash-out button and go to the cashier—and at the moment it is not a reportable transaction. To require it to be a reportable transaction would be a very powerful tool in dealing with those organised crime syndicates that use poker machine venues to launder money.