The former independent MP said it was ‘a crock’ to claim donations handed out by the industry to politicians did not influence policy in its favour

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The gambling lobby is one of the most powerful in Australia and politicians are reluctant to challenge the industry for fear of losing votes and donations, former independent MP Rob Oakeshott has claimed.

Oakeshott, who served in the NSW and federal parliament for 13 years, told Guardian Australia claims that the donations doled out by gambling companies did not influence policy were “a crock”.

“There’s a direct link between industry-benefiting policy and political donations,” he said. MPs preferred to go along with the industry because there was an “implied carrot of a nice cheque around election time if you behaved”.

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He appears in an ABC documentary screening Tuesday about the addictive design of poker machines, which he said were privately unpopular among MPs.

But Oakeshott said it was an “unwritten rule”, particularly at the state level, “that wherever the pubs and clubs are, that’s where the votes are”.

He said the industry employed lobbyists who made the policy argument against poker machine changes, but more MPs were swayed by fear of being targeted at elections.

“Politicians are by nature a bit paranoid, and fearful of anything that impacts their electorate, and I think [the clubs] play on that. Personally, I don’t think the reality is equal to that fear,” he said.

Oakeshott said he was surprised how many “A-listers” in Australia had connections to poker machines and the gambling industry.



One example was the unusual intervention of Channel Nine into the last major debate over poker machine reforms in 2011, when the commentator Phil Gould announced during a game the government’s proposed pre-commitment scheme was “rubbish policy”.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Football commentator Phil Gould in 2011 saying mandatory precommitment is ‘a rubbish policy, it won’t work’.

An investigation by the communications watchdog revealed the Nine Network’s CEO, David Gyngell — a close friend of former Crown chairman James Packer — had arranged a meeting with Clubs Australia to help promote their campaign against the reforms.

According to an email by Crown lobbyist Karl Bitar — himself a former Labor national secretary — it was made clear to Clubs Australia’s boss that for “what Gyngell is offering he has to make sure the clubs do the right thing by Nine in the future”.

Oakeshott said the moment had crystallised the power of gambling interests in Australia: “I was watching the game thinking, here’s the Centrebet Sea Eagles against the Sportingbet Broncos, while the panel is tearing into pokies reforms.”

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He said the close ties between the industry and politics over many decades had created a culture where anyone who pushed for reform was “a bit of a pariah”.



“You’re seen as anti-business ... It makes you uncool if you don’t like the pokies and you’re in politics,” he said.

A Productivity Commission report in 2010 estimated that around 40% of poker machine revenue in Australia came from at-risk or addicted gamblers.

With around 200,000, Australia has the most poker machines per capita in the world, disregarding casino destinations such as Aruba or Monaco.



• This article on 20 October 2015 was amended to correct the name of the commentator in the clip shown.