![\"Nelson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ec32dc32ce32be7e829e2028306d06e1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The confidential papers from 30 years prior are released each year to the public by the NT’s Library and Archives.<\/p>\n
They contain formal policy submissions to the government of the day.<\/p>\n
But not everything is released \u2014 executive director of the NT’s cabinet office Michelle Grantham said 57 documents would remain sealed for legal reasons.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
What was happening in 1995?<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Also in 1995, the NT’s Country Liberal Party government \u2014 led by Shane Stone after Marshall Perron’s retirement \u2014 passed laws that would allow poker machines in the bars of community sporting clubs.<\/p>\n
Loading…<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Nearly 60 per cent of those venues named the machines as a “significant” contributor to gross profits in 1998.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The government were predicting a return on its investment too.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c8ad7ef726257f88f999cb87b97984af.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Northern Territory’s parliamentary library opened in 1995, after the parliament’s grand opening in 1994. (Supplied: Library and Archives NT)<\/p>\n
The Department of Health supported the policy, also saying “consideration should be given to whether Aboriginal communities currently without liquor licenses should have that situation changed in order to take advantage of the machines”.<\/p>\n
The Gaming Machine Act 1995 passed later that year, and restricted poker machine applications to clubs with liquor licenses, with Darwin’s Nightcliff Sports Club the first venue to operate pokies on January 1, 1996.<\/p>\n
The government also offered the territory’s two casinos a rebate from club’s pokies winnings, to subsidise losing their exclusive access to poker machines.<\/p>\n
The NTRGA study found between January 1996 and December 1997, the MGM Grand Darwin and Lasseter’s Hotel Casino in Alice Springs recouped $6.8 million from this rebate, but due to the slow rollout of community machines, did not see a dip in pokies profits.<\/p>\n
In 1995, the Northern Territory made history<\/p>\n
In May 1995 chief minister Marshall Perron resigned from politics, the morning of the second reading of his landmark euthanasia bill, and just hours after informing his ministry.<\/p>\n
“They were very heady days about the bill,” Mr Perron recalled.<\/p>\n
“I had a good relationship with all of my colleagues in parliament [so] I guess there was some disappointment, but then again the resignation of a chief minister opens up all sorts of opportunities.”<\/p>\n
![\"Fannie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/483b828ccc8ac6dde0cb854fccde3214.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
An editorial by Chief Minister Marshall Perron regarding euthanasia laws in a Darwin newsletter (Supplied: Library and Archives NT)<\/p>\n
He said the Rights of the Terminally Act as a private member’s bill did not go before his cabinet for approval and so was not captured by the NT Archives release of cabinet documents.<\/p>\n
But the documents include discussions months later within cabinet about amendments to mandate a third assessment of applicants by a psychiatrist, following a terminal illness prognosis by a doctor.<\/p>\n
“The present requirement in the act is for the second doctor to certify both the terminal illness and the mental competence of the patient,” attorney-general Steve Hatton told cabinet.<\/p>\n
“This is considered unnecessarily restrictive as it requires the second doctor to have special medical competence possessed by very few doctors and limits the choice to psychiatrists.”<\/p>\n
“The reformulation will separate the two functions to make it easier to find competent doctors to certify each aspect.”<\/p>\n