Mr STIRLING - 1998-10-13
Madam Speaker, a Territory punter, Peter Coghlan, found his winnings $6 500 lighter than he expected when he collected his winnings from the NT TAB on Sunday because he was unknowingly betting in a Northern Territory pool only.
Why have not punters been informed about this before now? Why was this bet not linked to Super TAB and what is the minister doing to ensure that NT TAB is linked to Super TAB on all betting combinations 7 days a week?
ANSWER
Thank you Madam Speaker. I thank the honourable member for his question although I do note that my shadow colleague is not across this issue enough to ask it herself and it falls on the one person over there who does the work.
I take the last part of the question first. Regarding why it cannot link at the moment, we physically cannot do that at this stage. One of the reasons is because the Super TAB computer itself is being upgraded. We would like to be able to link all our pools with the national Super TAB pool. One of the problems we had when we were booted out of the New South Wales pool through no fault of our own, but because of your Labour mates in New South Wales, was that we had to very quickly link up again with Victoria.
There are some technicalities with the Victorian system, which they are upgrading themselves, which will eventually enable us to link in with that particular system. At the moment I am not putting any blame on anyone but the stumbling block is not in the Northern Territory, but in Victoria. We said that at the time. In fact we said that ...
Ms Martin: You did not tell me that though.
Mr ADAMSON: We said it in the House.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: Madam Speaker, I will pick up the interjection from the member for Fannie Bay, who has shown a total lack of interest in this particular area. When we made the change I stood up in this House, and we put out a press release as well, and I informed honourable members here that some of these pools would not be linked.
Ms Martin: What, the punters did not read it?
Mr ADAMSON: We certainly also informed the punters. Let us talk about the punters. What we then did, apart from the publications in terms of the press releases, was put out a couple of brochures, ‘NT TAB on the Move’ and ‘It’s Racing at YourTAB’, which did explain the new scenario and why some of these things were linked and some were not. So the allegation that punters were not informed is incorrect. Punters were informed of this. I certainly acknowledge what was reported in the paper in the last couple of days …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: … and I have also spoken to that particular punter about what we have been doing …
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Fannie Bay.
Mr ADAMSON: Certainly, there are other things we can do like placing signs on top of the fields, all this sort of thing, and I table both these brochures for the benefit of honourable members. Can I simply say, particularly to the member for Fannie Bay …
Mr Stirling: When will we link up?
Mr ADAMSON: I will pick up on that, Madam Speaker. We are waiting for Victoria to upgrade their computer system, which they are doing.
Ms Martin: When will it happen?
Mr ADAMSON: When Victoria tells us they are ready, then we can explore that possibility.
That is the scenario, and that is the problem. At the moment it is the Victorian side of things that is causing the hassle. Of course what we get again is this total lack of interest and knowledge and understanding from the member for Fannie Bay. I again highlight the fact that the question had to be asked by the member for Nhulunbuy and not the member for Fannie Bay. She has acknowledged her ignorance in the fact that the pools do not exist on …
Members interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: … I note the sensitivity of the member for Fannie Bay when I pick up her interjection. Obviously it is quite alright for the member for Fannie Bay to interject but it is not alright for me to pick up on the interjection ...
Members interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: The fact is, the member for Fannie Bay does not have a clue when it comes to this particular portfolio. She has not the faintest idea of what is going on. To stand up and throw across an interjection that they were not told about this scenario, when we are on public record and in a number of cases the member has had a briefing. The member for Fannie Bay has a lack of understanding and a lack of memory retention, and she is simply out of her depth in this particular area. That is borne out by the fact that the member for Nhulunbuy had to ask this particular question, and not the person who carries the shadow responsibility.
Why have not punters been informed about this before now? Why was this bet not linked to Super TAB and what is the minister doing to ensure that NT TAB is linked to Super TAB on all betting combinations 7 days a week?
ANSWER
Thank you Madam Speaker. I thank the honourable member for his question although I do note that my shadow colleague is not across this issue enough to ask it herself and it falls on the one person over there who does the work.
I take the last part of the question first. Regarding why it cannot link at the moment, we physically cannot do that at this stage. One of the reasons is because the Super TAB computer itself is being upgraded. We would like to be able to link all our pools with the national Super TAB pool. One of the problems we had when we were booted out of the New South Wales pool through no fault of our own, but because of your Labour mates in New South Wales, was that we had to very quickly link up again with Victoria.
There are some technicalities with the Victorian system, which they are upgrading themselves, which will eventually enable us to link in with that particular system. At the moment I am not putting any blame on anyone but the stumbling block is not in the Northern Territory, but in Victoria. We said that at the time. In fact we said that ...
Ms Martin: You did not tell me that though.
Mr ADAMSON: We said it in the House.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: Madam Speaker, I will pick up the interjection from the member for Fannie Bay, who has shown a total lack of interest in this particular area. When we made the change I stood up in this House, and we put out a press release as well, and I informed honourable members here that some of these pools would not be linked.
Ms Martin: What, the punters did not read it?
Mr ADAMSON: We certainly also informed the punters. Let us talk about the punters. What we then did, apart from the publications in terms of the press releases, was put out a couple of brochures, ‘NT TAB on the Move’ and ‘It’s Racing at YourTAB’, which did explain the new scenario and why some of these things were linked and some were not. So the allegation that punters were not informed is incorrect. Punters were informed of this. I certainly acknowledge what was reported in the paper in the last couple of days …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: … and I have also spoken to that particular punter about what we have been doing …
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Fannie Bay.
Mr ADAMSON: Certainly, there are other things we can do like placing signs on top of the fields, all this sort of thing, and I table both these brochures for the benefit of honourable members. Can I simply say, particularly to the member for Fannie Bay …
Mr Stirling: When will we link up?
Mr ADAMSON: I will pick up on that, Madam Speaker. We are waiting for Victoria to upgrade their computer system, which they are doing.
Ms Martin: When will it happen?
Mr ADAMSON: When Victoria tells us they are ready, then we can explore that possibility.
That is the scenario, and that is the problem. At the moment it is the Victorian side of things that is causing the hassle. Of course what we get again is this total lack of interest and knowledge and understanding from the member for Fannie Bay. I again highlight the fact that the question had to be asked by the member for Nhulunbuy and not the member for Fannie Bay. She has acknowledged her ignorance in the fact that the pools do not exist on …
Members interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: … I note the sensitivity of the member for Fannie Bay when I pick up her interjection. Obviously it is quite alright for the member for Fannie Bay to interject but it is not alright for me to pick up on the interjection ...
Members interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: The fact is, the member for Fannie Bay does not have a clue when it comes to this particular portfolio. She has not the faintest idea of what is going on. To stand up and throw across an interjection that they were not told about this scenario, when we are on public record and in a number of cases the member has had a briefing. The member for Fannie Bay has a lack of understanding and a lack of memory retention, and she is simply out of her depth in this particular area. That is borne out by the fact that the member for Nhulunbuy had to ask this particular question, and not the person who carries the shadow responsibility.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016