White Ribbon has yet another black mark against its name. Fairfax's Lisa Visentin on Saturday revealed a plan by the men's organisation to accept money from a publican if the authorities let him install more poker machines in his venue. White Ribbon only changed its mind on the money when Visentin called.

The idea that White Ribbon could possibly accept money from the proceeds of gambling must be counter to the values of the organisation. Financial stress is a key indicator of family violence and there is extensive research that shows the relationship between poker machines and family violence. Francis Markham's groundbreaking study shows areas with more than seven poker machines per 1000 adults have, after controlling for all other factors, 20 per cent more family violence incidents including verbal abuse and 30 per cent more family violence assaults.

Poker machines are a danger to public health – and they are particularly dangerous to women – 80 per cent of the family violence incidents in his data set were directed towards women. Fairfield Hotel, the proposed site of these new machines, would only be adding to an already saturated market. As at July 2017, Fairfield had 3841 machines, one machine per 43 people – almost double the state average of one machine per 81 people.

This governance implosion comes two years after scrutiny of White Ribbon's ambassador program. It was forced to distance itself from psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed for his remarks about family violence (the short version of what he said is that men are violent because women are increasingly empowered). Ahmed stepped down from the role (he was not sacked by White Ribbon). Other ambassadors have been dumped after incidents of family violence were uncovered. From 2200 ambassadors on its site in 2015, now fewer than 100 men are listed. Prominent men on the list include Tasmanian former federal politician Andrew Nikolic.