Tasmanian independent and anti-gambling advocate Andrew Wilkie has hit out at the $20 million advertising campaign which opposes the government's proposed poker machine reforms.
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) and Clubs Australia are set to launch a campaign in opposition to a proposed federal scheme which aims to limit problem gambling on poker machines. The lobby groups appointed Banjo Advertising to launch a campaign in April which will run across print, television, radio, outdoor and online.
Wilkie, who is the independent member for Denison, told AdNews: "The pokies industry has armed itself with a war chest almost as large as the one the miners used to see off a Prime Minister and a mining tax. Except this is an industry that has grown fat not from mining ore, but from mining the misery of some of Australia's most vulnerable people.
"Buried in that $20 million disinformation fund are the stories of where the money has come from; kids going hungry, homes being lost, families destroyed, crime and suicide. This is an industry trying to protect the billions [of dollars] problem gamblers lose on poker machines every year.
"Change is coming and the pokies industry needs to understand it can't buy or intimidate its way out of trouble. Too many people will not allow it."
The proposed national reforms, which might see poker machine players using smartcards that impose gambling limits set by the player before they begin gambling, are being promoted by the Gillard government, as it seeks to retain the support of Wilkie. Wilkie has demanded that the reforms be introduced through state consensus or national legislation by 2014, and has claimed he will withdraw support from Gillard's minority government if the reforms fall through.
Wilkie's support was one of the lynchpins in the formation of a minority government for the Labor Party.
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