Howard backs Perrottet’s poker machine reforms

Former prime minister John Howard has thrown his full support behind Premier Dominic Perrottet’s cashless gaming card proposal, describing it as a “courageous and wise” decision.

In one of the most significant endorsements of Perrottet’s determined push to reform the state’s gambling industry by removing cash from poker machines, Howard said: “I support it very strongly”.

“It takes courage to take on a difficult issue with high-profile concentrated opposition, but it is also wise because it is measured, he is not saying he is going to ban poker machines,” Howard said.

Former prime minister John Howard is backing Dominic Perrottet’s push to reform poker machine gambling.Credit: Wolter Peeters, Rhett Wyman, Peter Braig

Howard said there was “much noise from lobby groups” but there was “documented evidence that poker machines leave much wreckage in society”.

“This is a very measured reform and one where I think the silent majority will say ‘thank heavens someone had the courage to do this’,” Howard told the Herald.

“It shows both courage and wisdom because there are always exaggerated fears and suggestions about job losses but Unions NSW are absolutely correct in their assessment.”

Perrottet’s push for gambling reform received a major boost when Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey last week backed the plan, saying the “time for talk is over ... pokies reform should be a no-brainer for politicians of all stripes”.

Morey said the “vast sums of money put through pokies amount to a tax on working people” and poker machines were “taking billions from workers’ pockets and facilitating money laundering”.

One of the enduring legacies of the early Howard years was comprehensive national gun control in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre. That reform included banning military-style weapons and a buyback of unregistered, illegal and unwanted firearms.

Howard said he was not comparing his gun control policies with poker machine reform, but he acknowledged that people still raised it with him as “one of the best things my government did”.

Perrottet has promised to release his reform plans ahead of the March election but has confirmed a cashless card would have spending limits. In Tasmania, the first state to introduce a cashless gaming card, default limits are $100 per day, $500 per month and $5000 annually.

Unions NSW boss Mark Morey says poker machines are “taking billions from workers’ pockets”.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The former prime minister’s strong stance is at odds with right-wing Liberal Transport Minister David Elliott, who last week made it clear that he was opposed to Perrottet’s plan, insisting all it would achieve was to shift gambling to other forms.

In an indication of the difficulty Perrottet will face shepherding gambling changes through his cabinet room, Elliott said he wanted proof cashless gaming worked elsewhere in the world before he supported the proposal.

Elliott, who has worked for the NSW Australian Hotels Association and has been a director of Castle Hill RSL Club, said reforming one type of gambling would only move the problem.

“What you’ll see is people just walking out of registered clubs and pubs and walking down the road and not putting the 20 bucks after bowls in a poker machine, but going … to the newsagency and buying 20 bucks worth of scratchies,” Elliott said on Friday.

The Nationals are also resisting the card. Earlier this year, Hospitality Minister and Nationals MP Kevin Anderson said he did not support the government controlling a cashless gaming card, or it being mandatory.

Other high-profile supporters of a cashless gaming card include NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello, the NSW branch of Health Services Union and the United Workers Union, churches and leading charities.

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