The New South Wales Labor Party has adopted a tougher stance on poker machines, passing a motion at its state conference that commits to higher taxes on clubs with significant machine profits and a moratorium on licenses for new machines. The motion, which received unanimous support on Sunday, also aims to significantly reduce the number of gaming machines in the state over a decade.
Key reforms in the motion
The motion includes a commitment to a moratorium on licenses for new poker machines, requiring clubs with profits exceeding $20 million on machines to pay more tax, and a goal to significantly reduce the number of gaming machines over 10 years. Specifically, 50% of machines moved between venues would be removed from operation. This is a scaled-back version of an earlier proposal by Darcy Byrne, the Labor left mayor of Sydney's inner west, which called for half of all NSW's 90,000 poker machines to be removed.
The motion also commits to introducing mandatory facial recognition in every gaming room to support a statewide exclusion register, a policy the government is already working on.
Political dynamics and support
Premier Chris Minns has been indirectly involved in negotiations and was aware of growing grassroots support for the motion, according to Labor sources. The motion was negotiated by key right faction member and Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey, who thanked the premier for his involvement in recent weeks.
Byrne told Guardian Australia that "momentum for real reform of poker machine harm is becoming unstoppable." In his speech to delegates, he said, "For too long, NSW politics has treated the pokies as a problem that everyone acknowledges, but which nobody is willing to solve … for too long the private interests of the poker machine lobby have trumped the public interest of preventing addiction and harm."
Although Minns is not compelled to legislate the policy, the move comes as Labor aims to project unity ahead of the March state election. NSW gaming minister David Harris spoke in favor of the motion on Sunday.
Conference tensions and protests
The conference also saw tensions over protest laws. The Labor left briefly hijacked the agenda to force a debate on motions to repeal protest laws, but the slot was placed second last, leaving it unlikely to be reached. Angus McFarland, secretary of the left-aligned Australian Services Union, moved to bring forward the discussion, arguing it would be absurd not to allocate time. The motion was rejected by the right-controlled conference.
Protests also marked the event. During Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's speech, two protesters displayed a keffiyeh and a flag reading "Stop Arming Genocide. Free Palestine" from a balcony, which remained visible throughout. Another protester walked out draped in a Palestinian flag. Albanese criticized an "axis of grievance" between the Liberals, Nationals, and One Nation, focusing on the threat posed by Pauline Hanson's party in NSW.
Broader gambling reform stance
The 14-point platform adopted by the state party includes a commitment to lobby the federal government to prohibit all gambling inducements, as recommended in the late Labor MP Peta Murphy's landmark inquiry report into online gambling harms.
