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September 15th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
AAP
Gillard government minister Tony Burke is backing controversial poker machine reforms despite pressure from the clubs industry.
A group of Labor MPs, mostly from NSW and Queensland, is threatening to vote in caucus against the deal with independent Andrew Wilkie that helped secure government for Labor, Fairfax has reported.
The federal government plans to adopt mandatory pre-commitment systems for high-intensity poker machines by 2014, as part of an agreement with Mr Wilkie to form a minority government.
Mr Wilkie has threatened to unravel the Gillard government if his gambling reforms aren’t done and dusted in the parliament by May next year.
But the scheme has angered RSL clubs who have been busily lobbying sympathetic Labor MPs about what it will do to clubs, especially in the regions, and prompted a backlash in the Labor heartland.
Mr Burke, who holds the Sydney seat of Watson, says the clubs do “incredibly important work”, but he won’t be one of the Labor MPs to vote against the legislation.
He says he’s met too many families of problem gamblers.
“I can’t look them in the eye to say we’re doing enough about problem gambling. I just can’t ignore those people,” he told the Seven Network on Friday.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says the coalition won’t compromise its position to win the support of Mr Wilkie.
“This is another example of a poor solution for a problem,” he said.
“The technology doesn’t work. There are better ways, particularly through education, that you can get this matter resolved.”
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