NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s support for a cashless gaming card for pokie machines has made him an unlikely ally of the state’s top union official, while Labor’s cautious approach has put it in the same corner as the Nationals.
Those fault lines may seem surprising, but both sides’ positions make sense for their respective strategies heading into the state election in March, a political expert says.
Labor Leader Chris Minns has so far only committed to a limited trial of the cashless cards, which theoretically would curb problem gambling and illegal money laundering using pokie machines.
Meanwhile Perrottet was moved to support the cards after a damning report from the NSW Crime Commission last year found the machines were a major tool for money laundering crooks.
“It’s a very small risk for the Coalition,” Sydney University politics professor Rodney Smith told Crikey.
“They need good publicity, and they’re getting a lot of it from this. The Coalition is in minority government and needs to win seats. It needs to do something to hold on to the media and public attention and be able to say, ‘We’re a government that does stuff’.”
Labor, on the other hand, can’t afford to make unnecessary enemies after a decade in opposition, Smith said.
He said the risk of a strong campaign from clubs and hotels against the cards could end up hurting Labor at a moment when the party needs all the momentum it can get.
“It looks weak, but it may be better than the option of taking a strong stance,” he said.
Ryan Park, a senior Labor frontbencher, last week insisted the party’s position was “clear” and said a problem gambling policy would be presented to voters before the March 25 election.
“Chris Minns has outlined very, very clearly that we are not opposed to a cashless card, in fact, what we have said is we want an expanded trial to include pubs and clubs to make sure we have a broad evidence base to ensure the reforms we put in place will actually work,” Park told The Sydney Morning Herald.
His comments came after the state’s top union official split with Labor on the issue by backing the cards.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey told the same newspaper the “time for talk is over” on pokies reform, saying it should be a “no-brainer”.
The premier’s position has put him at odds with many Nationals MPs in his government who are sceptical of the cards, and even set him apart from his transport minister, David Elliott.
Elliott, who has a background working for the clubs industry, this week said he would recuse himself from cabinet discussions on the matter because his son works for a gambling technology firm.
Smith said he believed the gaming cards wouldn’t be a major vote mover in the election, and that crucial seats would instead be won on issues like infrastructure, health, education and the environment.
“I don’t see it as an issue that will sway votes,” he said.
I would be more impressed by the campaign to curb pokies, especially in the SMH, if these same organisations were consistent regarding other forms of gambling. The SMH publishes daily racing guides, form guides that include tips and odds, they promote big racing events with front page spreads for the Melbourne Cup and Everest, glamorise the racing ‘scene’ and pretend it’s all lovely and good fun at the races. The reality is that the racing game, as well as various other on-line betting options (football, cricket, anything really) are just as likely to promote and profit from gambling addiction as the pokies. I suspect a combination of vested financial interest from the media and simple class prejudice (the Members stand at ‘Royal Randwick’ is so much more glam than the pokie palace at Rooty Hill). My father was addicted to gambling but detested pokies as a “mug’s game”. But we were just as poor and damaged by his addiction (shame, deceit, social dysfunction) as any pokie addict.
“Weak but politically smart”.
The word “pathetic” would suffice.
Remember when John Howard banned ownership of semi-automatic weapons? Remember various Coalition members supporting the ban, knowing that they’d be out of a job, but doing it because it was the right thing? What happened to that kind of ethical stance? How did keeping the job and staying in power become the priority above everything else? This degree of self-interest is what you expect of the Republican Party, not Australian Labor.
When NSW Labor owns the Randwick Club, and ACT Labor has its own clubs, of course anything that limits profits to prop the party up will treated with disdain.
I’m all for doing the ethical thing, but did any Coalition members actually lose their job because of the guns ban?
How can a potential premier of NSW take such a weak stand against the revelation of billions of dollars of criminal money flowing through these things? It’s obscene. Shame on Minns
Clubs and pubs have been implicated in money laundering. The cashless card is being proposed to curb money laundering, not problem gambling. ClubsNSW have been very adept at recasting it as punishing Nana rather than organised crime.