Who Has the Best Pokies Face?

The Australian Gillard Government has a fair bit on its plate at the moment, as all governments should really. One of the issues placed high on the Government’s agenda by Tasmanian Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is national reform to poker machines.

As with many reforms, this one seems a no brainer. Poker machines are prevalent across the suburbs and towns of Australia, they have done untold damage to individuals, families and small business over several decades.  Therefore the proposed introduction of national regulation to minimize the impact pokies have on the community seems wise and in the national interest.

Accordingly the Prime Minister has agreed to implement pre-commitment technology on every poker machine in Australia by 2014. The states and territories have until May this year to sign up.  If they don’t, the Prime Minister has committed to new laws to force the change. This agreement struck with Wilkie is the very agreement on which the Gillard Government’s now exists.

However as is the trend these days when an industry objects to reform it doesn’t like it, Clubs Australia has signaled a $20 million dollar advertising campaign to highlight the ‘devastation’ such a reform would reek across the Australian community.

The miners, smoking, and gaming industries have already launched advertising campaigns against various reforms, Clubs NSW having previously done so in relation to smoking bans in hotels introduced in 2007, the last state to do so.

One factor that may be on the government’s side, counter intuitively, is the disintegration of the New South Wales Labor Party. The relationship between NSW Labor and the clubs and gaming industries is well. However now with the diminished influence of the NSW right with in the Labor party it is unlikely to meet resistance from the ‘faceless’ men of the ALP.  The one group that has seemingly had as much influence on federal Labor policy as the caucus.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as is his perpetual stance on all government reform is seemingly opposing the implementation of pre-commitment technology saying, in a door stop interview on Saturday, “I certainly think that problem gambling is an issue. We do need to take problem gambling seriously but clubs are part of Australia’s social fabric and we can’t tackle gambling in ways which damage the social fabric.”

Social fabric? The Club culture is something that is almost unique to NSW and Queensland in states like Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, “Club Culture as defined is New South Wales is almost non-existent.  In Victoria pokies were only introduced in the ‘90s where they invaded hotels, almost killing the live music and entertainment seen as well as draining billions of dollars from local businesses as the temptation of pokies became more and more prevalent across the community.

Is it part of the Australian fabric to have families decimated by gambling addiction? Is it healthy for $10 billion to be spent on gambling by Australians each year and is it good for Australian democracy that state governments reap over $4 billion in tax revenue with the Victoria relying on such revenue for around 10 per cent of its overall revenue?

What is being proposed is not an abolishment of pokies, it is simply the introduction of a pre elected commitment from the gambler when choosing to play machines. The limit imposed is decided by the individual and gives them a choice to choose the threshold of their loss.

Is this the end of the world as we know it? Will it threaten thousands of jobs? Will erode Australia’s social fabric?  Is it worth toppling a government over?

The answer to all of the above questions has to be NO.

So let’s get some perspective, admire some political leadership for once and not allow vested interests to super seed the national interest.