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February 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The federal government is urgently trying to resuscitate the proposed trial in the ACT of restrictions on poker machine gambling after Independent Andrew Wilkie suddenly dropped his support.
He now says the 12-month trial is too weak because it does not include Queanbeyan and he called on the Prime Minister to ”grow a backbone”.
The turnaround has stunned the government, ahead of the first meeting tomorrow with ClubsACT to begin thrashing out the details of the trial.
Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin was surprised Mr Wilkie made his stand mid-way through talks.
”I am extremely concerned that [Mr Wilkie] has put national poker machine reform at risk, moving away from his previous support for the government’s legislation,” she said.
Ms Macklin pleaded with cross-bench MPs to accept the compromise.
”Let’s make a start rather than saying it’s all too difficult and just throwing everything out, which is what both Mr Wilkie and the Greens are risking,” she said.
Earlier this year Julia Gillard broke her promise to Mr Wilkie to introduce legislation by May for full mandatory pre-commitment technology to force poker machine players to specify how much they were prepared to lose in a session.
He said then he would support the watered down proposal to hold the trial in the ACT.
He says he has changed his mind after receiving advice the trial was ”problematic” because Queanbeyan clubs were excluded and the trial was too short.
”There is also the significant matter of the conflict of interest on account of the Labor Party being set to profit from the very large sum of public money that will be paid to ClubsACT,” he said.
His fallback position is for the government to force all poker machines to be modified to limit bets to $1.
The Greens and the anti-gambling campaigner, Senator Nick Xenophon, are supporting his call for significant changes to the legislation.
Canberra Labor Clubs Group, which operates 488 poker machines at four venues across the territory, contributed almost $1 million to the ALP in the past financial year.
The trial would give $36 million to territory clubs to compensate for modifying the machines and for any losses from a drop-off in gambling revenue.
ClubsACT chief executive Jeff House, who is negotiating the details of the trial with the government, condemned Mr Wilkie as a wrecker.
”I don’t care how much Mr Wilkie is currently suffering from relevance deprivation syndrome, his stamping of feet approach has delivered exactly nothing but wasted time,” he said. ”Previously he did not support a trial in the ACT, now he is apparently supportive of a trial under certain circumstances or a trial that suits him.
”Previously he was imposing a timeline on government and industry which would involve 6000 venues across the country being pre-commitment ready by 2014 and now he is saying a 12-month trial is not long enough.
”One day he wants all this happening at breakneck speed and the next day he’s saying it is happening too quickly.
”I think he has dealt himself out of playing any constructive role in addressing this issue and there is now no room left for him at the table.”
Mr House will meet with government officials tomorrow for the first formal meeting to discuss details of the trial, following the recent decision by Canberra clubs to give in-principle support to the proposal.
He said Queanbeyan clubs had not been formally approached on joining the trial or providing data on change of revenue.
The Stop the Loss Coalition is launching new television and radio advertisements calling for meaningful reform on the issue.
In the TV commercial, a young girl returns home from school to an empty house.
Her mother is not home to help with homework or make her dinner, so she reverts to eating a small bag of chips.
”Her mother is feeding the pokies,” the ad says.
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