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January 23, 2012
Pokies reform has ground to a slow grind. Andrew Wilkie did not have the numbers in the House of Representatives and the NSW backbench of the Labor Party was scared off by the campaign run by Clubs Australia against mandatory pre-commitment. It's another indication of the lack of political courage given the public support for pokies reform.
What we have is a delayed introduction to mandatory pre-commitment, slipping out to 2016, and only after a "full trial" of the measures in Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory from February 2013.
Mandatory pre-commitment has already been trialled in South Australia, in Queensland and in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia (see the Productivity Commission). These showed a significant number of gamers used the pre-commitment schemes to monitor and limit their daily expenditure. That means reduced income for the clubs.
Malcolm Farnsworth in Poker machine doublespeak at The Drum says that it was an expedient exercise in placating the powerful clubs industry, especially in New South Wales and Queensland:
the Government is utterly disingenuous about what's really going on.Clubs Australia has got its way again. Gillard has caved into its pressure just as surely as she rolled over for the mining industry when she watered down the mining tax.She has also caved into pressure from nervous members of the ALP caucus. As in so many other areas, the Government is incapable of fighting back in support of its policy positions. They prefer appeasement.
He states that the Gillard Labor Government couldn't even follow through on Gilllard written agreement with Wilkie and put the proposal to an up or down vote in the House. The numbers aren't there, Gillard says, but they ought to have fought for the reform.
I appreciate that the Gillard Govt is currently blamed for everything that happens or doesn't happen, but the ALP right wing power brokers, by cutting Wilkie loose in this way, will reinforce the negative perception fostered by the Coalition that this represents another broken promise. They opposition have a track record of successfully mining the vein of trust and conviction and the ALP continues to feed them.
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I never expected to be impressed with a Gillard government, but this is woeful in policy and political terms.
If Gillard had been elected with a majority and was in a position to put up her own agenda, would it involve something other than cowering in a corner?