‘Watershed moment’: Wilkie challenges other states to follow NSW pokie reform

Anti-poker machine campaigner Andrew Wilkie has challenged governments around Australia to seize a “watershed moment” and follow Premier Dominic Perrottet’s plan to introduce cashless gambling cards, while also declaring NSW Labor would be unfit to govern if it didn’t embrace the change.

The independent federal MP, whose sweeping poker machine reforms collapsed in 2012 after then-prime minister Julia Gillard reneged on a landmark deal, challenged other states to follow the NSW premier’s impending gambling crackdown – a policy he described as a “remarkable turn of events”.

Federal MP and anti-gambling campaigner Andrew Wilkie has backed NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s poker machine reforms.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Wilkie secured an agreement with Gillard for the national rollout of mandatory pre-commitment technology following the 2010 election, but the scheme was scuttled by a sustained campaign by the powerful pubs and clubs industry.

“It’s potentially a watershed moment not just for NSW but for the whole country,” Wilkie told the Herald. “As a reformist at the national level I see that if we can crack this nut, then we will see reform across the whole country.”

Wilkie said the issue was “a fundamental test of the character of both major political parties”.

“If any future NSW government relies on gambling addiction to pay their bills then it’s a morally bankrupt government,” he said.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie and NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns.Credit: Suppied

“If the Labor Party refuses to get on board with deep reform on such a fundamental measure of their character then they will show themselves to be morally bankrupt, and I’ll go so far as to say that in doing so that they’re not fit to govern the state.

“I know that’s a curious thing to come from me as I’m not a natural ally of the conservatives.

“But I’ve frankly had a gutful of the way the ALP, in particular, is captive to the poker machine industry. The ALP is a great party, has a great history and a lot of great policies, but this comes down to the character of the party and if it has genuine integrity or not.”

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has stopped short of endorsing cashless technology but has vowed to cut the number of poker machines and impose a mandatory cashless gaming trial on 500 poker machines. The 500 pokies included in the trial would represent less than one per cent of the state’s 90,000 machines.

Perrottet announced the government’s cashless gaming card policy after a NSW Crime Commission report into the role of poker machines in money laundering but is yet to provide details of how the policy will be implemented.

“To give him credit, the headline announcement is an important one,” Wilkie said of Perrottet.

Asked if other states and territories should consider following suit, Wilkie praised Tasmania and NSW.

“Tasmania announced it months ago and I think Perrottet is showing enormous leadership on this poker machine reform issue, and I do call on all jurisdictions to follow his and Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s lead.”

National cabinet should play a role given the states harvest poker machine revenue but also rely on it for funding budget commitments, Wilkie said.

In an opinion piece for the Herald, Wilkie also condemned the clubs and pubs industry for sinking reforms in 2012.

“Delivering the agreement should have been easy politically because polling showed popular support for reform throughout the country. But no, the industry spent millions on a disinformation campaign which – while barely shifting the polls – scared the hell out of federal government MPs and senators.”

Wilkie said he believed reform had public support in NSW but was unsure whether it will be a “vote changer”.

“I don’t know the effect of this on the election. I’m not taking sides in who I want to win the NSW election. On this policy, the current government is doing well and the current opposition is doing appallingly.”

Asked on Sunday when the government would release details of its cashless gaming card proposal, Perrottet said: “Soon.”

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