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Recommendations

Recommendation 1

2.18      The committee emphasises the importance of jurisdictions ensuring appropriate performance targets are developed, and that ongoing monitoring and appropriate evaluation of individual initiatives is undertaken to build the evidence base for effective measures to address problem gambling. The committee recommends jurisdictions report to COAG each year on progress against the National Framework for Problem Gambling and that the reporting include key performance targets and evaluation information.

Recommendation 2

2.26    The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government:

• designate gambling as a National Health Priority Area to be funded for research under the auspices of the National Health and Medical Research Council; and
• recognise gambling as an 'associated priority goal' under the Commonwealth Government's National Research Priority of 'promoting and maintaining good health', enabling funding support for gambling research to be provided by the Australian Research Council.

Recommendation 3

4.39      The committee recommends that the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Problem Gambling Taskforce commission research on the complex causes and consequences of stigma and the most effective way to address and reduce the stigma associated with problem gambling. States could then draw on this work to develop strategies to address stigma and include appropriate messages in their own social marketing campaigns.

Recommendation 4

4.40      The committee recommends that gambling social marketing strategies, particularly those claiming to address stigma, are thoroughly market researched prior to launch and evaluated to determine effectiveness and any unintended consequences.

Recommendation 5

6.95      The committee recommends that as part of strengthening self-exclusion arrangements, governments, through the COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform, work with industry towards jurisdiction-wide venue exclusion as well as legislative changes which mean that prizes won by people in breach of self-exclusion orders should be forfeited to government revenue as recommended by the Productivity Commission.

Recommendation 6

8.96      The committee recommends that the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, in consultation with the financial sector, commission further research on ways to progress practical measures that could be put in place by the financial sector to assist people with gambling problems and their families.

Recommendation 7

10.34      The committee recommends that the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs undertake further research on the impact of comorbidities on problem gambling and how integrated treatment services can be developed and implemented to effectively address comorbid conditions.

Recommendation 8

10.51      The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government fund the establishment of a national helpline, similar to the Drug and Alcohol Clinical Advisory Service, as a practical resource for primary health care professionals to assist them to identify and refer patients who present with gambling problems.

Recommendation 9

11.54      The committee reiterates its call for a national independent research institute on gambling, as originally proposed by the Productivity Commission and recommended in the committee's previous two reports.

Recommendation 10

11.71      The committee recommends that any gambling research funded by the Commonwealth Government and made public should include: disclosure of any conflicts of interest; details about the nature and extent of any industry involvement; and list any additional sources of funding. The committee encourages jurisdictions to follow this approach.

Recommendation 11

11.86      The committee recommends that the COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform work to establish a national minimum dataset on gambling, in line with the Productivity Commission's recommendation. The dataset should be made publicly available.

Recommendation 12

11.95      The committee recommends that the COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform establish agreed parameters around the collection by governments of a basic level of nationally consistent industry data on gambling.

Recommendation 13

11.122   The committee recommends that the COAG Select Council on Gambling Reform work collaboratively with gambling treatment providers and relevant health professional bodies to build appropriate evaluation measures and benchmarking practices into gambling treatment services.

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