The Tasmanian Greens unequivocally support full implementation of the universal precommitment card for poker machines, with all the features needed to make it effective, and we call on Liberal and Labor parties to do the same.
Pokies do deep harm to our community, and we need real action to reduce this harm. That’s why on behalf of the Greens I’m happy to provide an iron-clad guarantee that we will supporting binding pre-commitment with default loss limits, application for all poker machine users, a single system across all venues, and a single card per person. We will also support any other measures to reduce harm.
The fact 24 community service organisations and advocates have had to ask political parties and candidates to clarify their position on pokies is a deep concern. However, it’s also not surprising, given the tricky and evasive language I heard myself from Liberal and Labor politicians when asked about this directly in a public forum.
It’s not good enough for any politician to to say “we support the work that’s underway” on pokies. They’re weasel words. We need an unequivocal commitment from all sides of politics that they support all four measures in full.
If Liberal and Labor politicians can’t give the iron-clad guarantee the Greens are giving – to support the full implementation of all four harm minimisation measures called for by the community sector – then the question is why not? Why won’t they give a straight answer?
We hope this isn’t yet another chapter in the sorry story of the pokies industry pushing the major parties around. From what we’ve seen of Liberal and Labor politicians in recent days it seems we – and the community services sector – have reason to be concerned.
