Forensic research by the ABC has shed new light on just how important a ban on political donations from the gambiling industry is. The ABC’s Hitting the Jackpot investigation revealed that over $81million has been given since 1999 to Liberals, Labor, Nationals and minor parties. 

With gambling industry profits completely at the mercy of government regulation, the Greens say it’s clear that the gambling industry is buying influence and favour, and the Liberal, Labor and National parties are happy to comply. 

The Greens say that proper regulation of the gambling industry requires a ban on the industry donating to political parties.

“The gambling industry is just rife with conflicts of interest," Australian Greens spokesperson on Gambling Senator Rachel Siewert said. 

“We urgently need a national independent regulator, with gambling companies operating across the country we need a national body regulating them. 

"States which rely heavily on the income gambling generates cannot be in charge of regulating the industry as there is a clear conflict of interest.  

The Greens say that as Crown Resorts has been found to be unfit to operate in Sydney then there are questions around their operations in other states too. 

“The culture and operation of Crown Resorts in Western Australia and Victoria were part of the NSW assessment process and need to be assessed, '' Greens spokesperson on Gambling Senator Rachel Siewert said. 

Queensland Greens Senator and spokesperson for gambling, Larissa Waters, said reports today that Queenslanders lost on average, a record-breaking $7 million a day in August 2018, shows the urgent need to ban political donations by the gambling industry.

“While the greedy gambling industry sits in the back pocket of the major political parties there will never be any real action to keep the community safe from predatory pokies,” Senator Waters said.

“There must be urgent action to curb these enormous losses and harm caused by poker machines.

Australian Greens Senator Larissa Waters is returning to federal Parliament following the confirmation of her appointment as a Senator for Queensland by the Queensland State Parliament. 

Today’s reappointment filled the vacancy created by Andrew Bartlett, who stepped down from the Senate role he filled after Sen. Waters resigned over section 44, to contest the lower house seat of Brisbane at the next federal election. 

Senator Waters will be the first section 44'd Senator to return to the seat to which she was originally elected.

The Greens spokesperson on gambling, Senator Andrew Bartlett has called the federal government hypocrites who are using pokie addiction as an excuse to attack people on welfare, while refusing to stand up to the billion-dollar, predatory gambling industry.

“We have silence from the government following revelations that Woolworths tells their staff to spy on patrons, gathering personal information in order to trick them into putting more money into pokies.

It is deeply disappointing that the majority of senators have turned their backs on vulnerable Australians by voting down a motion calling for the phasing out of poker machines in pubs and clubs, the Australian Greens say.

“With hundreds of thousands of Australians at risk of harmful gambling addiction, it’s a travesty that senators, excluding the Nick Xenophon Team, have voted down a Greens’ motion to tackle predatory gambling.

The Australian Greens have slammed the Turnbull Government for allowing loopholes that gets Foxtel out of a blanket ban on playing gambling advertising during live sports, and broadcasters playing gambling ads during pre-game entertainment.

“Last year, the Government claimed they’d struck a deal with broadcasters to ban gambling ads during sport broadcasts. We now see the legislation to enforce this shows not all broadcasters are treated equally,” Greens media spokesperson Senator Hanson-Young said.

QLD Labor hoodwinking Cairns community over secretive $1bn waterfront development proposal

QLD Labor are hosting their farcical community consultation pop-up shop over the holiday break as a deliberate plot to strip the people of Cairns their right to have a say in the future of their own community.

The local community has a right to a fair and transparent consultation on the future of their city, yet as her first act as Minister for Tourism, Kate Jones will be pulling the wool over their eyes.

The Australian Greens today welcomed the lawsuit from the Alliance for Gambling Reform lodged in Melbourne today and called for a halt to the Palaszczuk government’s casino obsession.  The expanded scope of the lawsuit for misleading and deceptive conduct puts every single poker machine in Queensland under suspicion.

“The newly announced element of this historic court case brings in every single poker machine in Queensland, because industry and government constantly use the dodgy ‘return to player’ claim.