Wilkie dumps ALP over broken pokies
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a watered down pokies reform plan in Melbourne on Saturday.
The decision prompted Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to label Ms Gillard the "great deceiver" for betraying Mr Wilkie and therefore becoming prime minister under false pretences.
"Nothing this prime minister says can be taken seriously ever again," he said.
"All of the promises she makes at the next election will have to be discounted, in the same way all her previous commitments have been dishonoured."
The prime minister's plan will witness a trial of the controversial mandatory pre-commitment technology to start January 1, 2013, possibly in the ACT, and if successful, then expanded.
The technology requires gamblers to preset a limit on what they are prepared to lose on high betting machines.
A decision on its roll out will be deferred until 2016.
The backdown could dent Ms Gillard's credibility but she has denied the move represented another broken promise.
"The circumstances of this parliament are clear ... there is not the support in the House of Representatives for the Andrew Wilkie plan," she said.
A devastated Mr Wilkie told reporters in Hobart he could no longer guarantee supply and confidence for the government.
He will support only motions of no-confidence in the event of serious misconduct and not support politically opportunistic motions and will consider budget measures on their merits.
"I regard the prime minister to be in breach of the written agreement she signed, leaving me no option but to honour my word and end my current relationship with her government," Mr Wilkie said.
He said the backdown was a missed opportunity but indicated he would vote for Ms Gillard's compromise.
"We should be able to trust our politicians to keep their word," he said.
"Frankly a deal is a deal."
The reforms have been the target of heavy attacks by registered clubs, which argue they will cut revenue and be a costly regulatory burden.
Key independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott had indicated publicly they would not support mandatory pre-commitment reforms.
NSW Labor backbenchers in marginal seats were coming under significant political pressure from a cashed-up opposition movement to the reforms.
Speculation was mounting last week the Wilkie promise would be dumped, in light of the government gaining an extra number on the floor of the lower house following the election of former Liberal MP Peter Slipper as Speaker.
His predecessor Harry Jenkins went to the Labor backbench.
The minority government's buffer is now just a single vote.
Mr Wilkie had wanted legislation passed by May and his 2014 deadline upheld.
Fellow anti-gambling campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon said he doubted the Gillard government had ever had its heart in the proposed gambling reforms.
"This is a breach of faith," Senator Xenophon said.
Families Minister Jenny Macklin said she had made a "substantiative offer" to Clubs ACT and had also approached the ACT government about trialling the pre-commitment technology.
She said electronic warnings will be fitted to machines and the government will also move to introduce a $250 daily withdrawal limit from ATMs in gaming venues, excluding casinos.
The Australian Greens have flagged introducing a private members bill for an alternative plan of $1 bet limits.
Greens senator Richard Di Natale told reporters in Melbourne the backdown was a sad day for families shattered by problem gambling.
"It's a spineless announcement and represents a cave in to vested interests," he said.
"It could set back the cause of pokie machine reform for decades to come."
He said the $1 bet limit policy had wider support in parliament and opposition leader Tony Abbott had not ruled out supporting the idea.
A Clubs Australia spokesman told AAP the organisation would not be "dumping" their campaign against the reforms until they examined the details of the legislation.
Anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello said the full roll-out of the pokies reforms hung on a "wing and a prayer".
"We are trusting a future parliament where there won't be a Wilkie with the balance of power," he told ABC TV.
"It's something that disturbs me."
In politics, false information, fraud are common with NO REPERCUSSIONS against the criminal activity.
Another timeless example of how fradulent politicians are.
Julia Gillard should be ousted from her Prime Ministerial position.
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