Unsealed cabinet records reveal NT government's pokies spend
It was the year TLC's Waterfalls topped the charts and Windows 95 launched in stores, but in 1995 the Northern Territory made history by becoming the first place in the world to legalise voluntary assisted dying.
A trove of unsealed cabinet records from 1995 reveals internal government discussions that led to an explosion in the number of poker machines in the Northern Territory.
That year the NT also passed world-first legislation allowing voluntary assisted dying (VAD), with amendments to the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act discussed in the documents.
The confidential papers from 30 years prior are released each year to the public by the NT's Library and Archives.
They contain formal policy submissions to the government of the day.
But not everything is released — executive director of the NT's cabinet office Michelle Grantham said 57 documents would remain sealed for legal reasons.
"Thirty years isn't that long ago and some of these individuals are still alive, so there is a process that records are generally closed or redacted for a further 15 years," she said.
What was happening in 1995?
In 1995, South African president Nelson Mandela congratulated the Springbok captain Francois Pienaar after South Africa beat the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup. (Supplied: Getty Images)
Around the world in 1995, Coolio's song Gangsta's Paradise topped the charts, Windows 95 launched in stores, and Nelson Mandela presented the Rugby World Cup trophy to Springboks captain Francois Pienaar.
In the territory, discussions were being had about the crocodile farming industry and tourism strategies for Nitmuluk National Park, Adelaide River wetlands and the Mary River National Park.
Also in 1995, the NT's Country Liberal Party government — led by Shane Stone after Marshall Perron's retirement — passed laws that would allow poker machines in the bars of community sporting clubs.
A wider gambling study later commissioned by the NT Racing and Gaming Authority (NTRGA) found 530 poker machines were rolled out across 31 community clubs by the end of 1997.
Nearly 60 per cent of those venues named the machines as a "significant" contributor to gross profits in 1998.
The unsealed documents show cabinet initially approved $1.9 million to buy and install poker machines at community venues, and projected $3.6 million for machine and maintenance costs the following year.
The government were predicting a return on its investment too.
"Treasury's broad estimates are that government's net position, after development costs, will be at least budget neutral in the start up years 1995/96 and 1996/97, with a net revenue gain starting at $5-6m per year from 1997/98," a Treasury submission to cabinet said.