Expanded gambling reforms key to teal’s support for major parties

At least two teal independents contesting the looming NSW election will make a series of gambling reform measures a condition of their support, should the state poll result in a hung parliament.

Independent candidates for Pittwater, Jacqui Scruby, and Lane Cove, Victoria Davidson, said a primary condition of their support for a Coalition or Labor government would include curfews on poker machines and community consultation on where the machines were rolled out.

Independent member for Lane Cove Victoria Davidson addresses a Climate 200 event on Sunday flanked by other teal candidates.Credit: James Alcock

Both Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns have outlined reforms for the gaming industry in a bid to address problem gambling and curb money laundering.

However, Davidson said both leaders would need to expand their reforms to garner her support in the event of a hung parliament.

“I cannot overstate how much people want this … everyone I’ve talked to is quite excited and quite unbelieving that we might finally get some action on pokie reform,” she said. “People are understanding that if we don’t do it this election, we might lose the chance and the gambling industry will win. It feels like a once-in-a-generation chance.”

Both the Coalition and Labor are facing the prospect of a minority government, or hung parliament, in what is expected to be the tightest state election race in decades.

Davidson and Scruby were among a handful of independent candidates from across Sydney who met with community supporters and potential donors linked to the Climate 200 campaign on Sunday.

Climate 200 founder and businessman Simon Holmes à Court attended the event and said while Perrottet was not facing the same widespread community anger that saw Scott Morrison turfed from office, voters still perceived him as “a bit weird”.

“It’s definitely harder when you don’t have an iconic figure that people are unified in opposition to,” Holmes à Court told the Herald.

“Our polling shows that people don’t love Dom, they think he’s a bit weird, they don’t love his religiosity, but ... he’s not as divisive a figure as Scott Morrison.”

Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes à Court on Sunday.Credit: James Alcock

He said while the NSW government had done some good work in its energy policies, it was let down by the number of coal and gas projects it had approved since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed.

“Its energy policy is pointed in the right direction, but on emissions, by approving this constant stream of coal and gas projects we see a government that hasn’t gotten the memo,” he said.

Scruby said support for a bill she plans to introduce to parliament to scuttle the controversial PEP11 – also opposed by both major parties – and meaningful gambling reform would be the conditions of her backing either major party.

“I have a [gambling] policy which will definitely be part of a negotiation package,” Scruby said.

That package includes a cashless gambling card, maximum spin bets of $1, banning the broadcast of gambling advertisements, and the introduction of a national gambling regulator.

The teal candidates – who also included Joeline Hackman in Manly, Judy Hannan in Wollondilly and Helen Conway in North Shore – will campaign on improving integrity measures in the wake of numerous pork barrelling and corruption scandals that have plagued the NSW government.

As the Liberal Party faces a teal battle to the east of the city, Labor on Sunday held a campaign in Sydney’s west where Minns promised to improve integrity in government by referring all major natural disaster relief packages to the Auditor-General.

The move comes after last week’s report into a NSW bushfire recovery scheme found the office of former deputy premier John Barilaro intervened in a $100 million bushfire recovery program and altered the guidelines, resulting in Labor electorates missing out on emergency funding.

Minns will on Monday promise $10 million to new school classrooms in Liberal heartland, including Cammeray and Northbridge public, as NSW Labor seeks to remove political boundaries from funding announcements.

“Under Labor, it doesn’t matter where you live or who your local member of parliament is, funding will go where the need is,” Minns said.

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