Earlier this month, it was announced that Julie Gillard has backed out of her promise to implement Andrew Wilkie’s pokie reform this year. It seemed to be a long time coming, since Gillard has allowed for the legislation to be delayed numerous times. But, the legislation is not completely dead – Gillard has proposed some other changes to the current poker machine industry in Australia.
“To secure reform, we need to take a different approach,” she says.
Now, the government has decided to continue the trial of the precommitment technology. However, there is no way that the technology would be implemented this year, as Wilkie would have hoped. Instead, Gillard states that the earliest the country would see gambling reform is 2016 – and that is if the trial is successful.
As promised, Andrew Wilkie has withdrawn his support for Gillard, insulted by her change of face. Senator Nick Xenophon has called Gillard decision a “gross breach of trust”, and believes that her government will lose a great deal of credibility over the situation.
Related posts:
- More Obstacles for Pokie Reform When Andrew Wilkie proposed the idea of pokie reform, he thought it would be a smooth road. Unfortunately, nothing seems to have gone as planned....
- Gillard Turns Back on Pokie Reform Andrew Wilkie has been fighting long and hard for the implementation of pokie reform, but it seems that his hard work will not pay off....
- Pokies Trial Likely to Delay Reform Legislation Clubs across Australia have requested a trial of Andrew Wilke’s pokie reform, which may push back the date of its legislation. Wilke had hoped that...
