By Nick Newling
NSW Parliament’s three newest MPs have shown more leadership on gambling reform in their inaugural speeches than the premier has since he took office, says the chief advocate at the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello.
Conservative Liberal Monica Tudehope, moderate Liberal James Wallace, and teal independent Jacqui Scruby, who all won seats during last October’s byelections, each used their opening address to speak of the scourge of poker machines, leading Costello to say “these first-term MPs are showing more leadership than [Premier Chris] Minns and Labor. Dominic Perrottet showed the way, saying we will do the cashless card, and the NSW public overwhelmingly wants this reform.”
The three newest MPs to join NSW parliament, James Wallace, Jacqui Scruby and Monica Tudehope, all spoke out against gambling in the state.Credit: Michael Howard
Tudehope, the member for Epping who worked on poker machine policy while serving as the deputy chief of staff to former premier Perrottet, said that Australia has “the worst gambling losses in the world. When Australians lose their savings, they lose more than money; they lose their ability to care for themselves and their families. This is not just a social crisis; it is an economic one too.”
Prior to the 2023 state election, Perrottet vowed to make every poker machine in the state cashless within five years, while buying back 2000 machines, a plan that was lauded by gambling reform advocates. However, this plan was shelved when Labor won the election, and a trial was undertaken that by December 2024 had only 14 “genuine and active” participating gamblers.
Wallace, the new member for Hornsby, said in his inaugural speech that the Coalition’s pre-election proposal was still an option.
“Advancing human dignity requires that we do more to address the harm caused by poker machines in our state … technology can be used to empower people by establishing an effective exclusion register and by ensuring others are able to put a self-imposed limit on how much time they might play, when they might play and the amount they are prepared to lose,” said Wallace.
“The prevalence and costs of poker machines is not a global phenomenon. It is not even an Australia‑wide phenomenon. It is a NSW problem. And we can fix it.”
The teal independent for Pittwater, Jacqui Scruby, who spoke on gambling reform in her inaugural speech, told this masthead that her community was still reckoning with the loss of a man who took his own life following a 13-hour pokie binge at Dee Why RSL.
“The community was outraged when it was revealed that his wife had begged the club to help him stop, and instead they were aggressively encouraging him to continue,” said Scruby, who also called for pokies venues to be regulated as casinos.
“It’s time to reignite the appetite and commitment to reform … we need to introduce mandatory cashless gaming immediately.”
The NSW government defended its record, with the Minister for Gaming and Racing David Harris saying “we have delivered more gaming reform in 22 months than the Liberals and Nationals did in 12 years.” Harris cited the creation of the Independent Panel on Gaming Reform, the slashing of cash input’s into new machines from $5000 to $500, and the banning of gambling ads on public transport, as a few of a raft of measures the government has introduced.
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