The Gillard government is officially done with supporting Andrew Wilkie’s precommitment scheme. For the entire year, the government has fielded complaints about the potential initiative, which would require gamblers to limit their own spending. Now, Gillard is saying “enough”, turning her back on the agreement that she had previously made with Wilkie.
Last year, Andrew Wilkie said that he would only support her government if she promised to implement pokie reform. She agreed to the deal, but it seemed that she was never very passionate about the initiative. Numerous setbacks took place and it seemed that the legislation would never be passed. Several times, Andrew Wilkie threatened to withdraw his support.
Now, Gillard no longer needs Wilkie’s support. Peter Slipper has agreed to be the Lower House Speaker, so Andrew Wilkie is no longer needed to keep Gillard’s government in power. Now, the federal government can appeal to popular opinion by scrapping the idea for pokie reform.
Wilkie has denied that the proposal for pokie reform is dead. He stated that he is finally willing to make concessions in order to have the legislation passed, and that he is even willing to wait until 2016 to make it happen.
