2026-10-22
Today, a Greens motion to reinstate poker-machine shutdown hours
between 2AM and 10AM has been defeated on the floor of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Labor’s equivocation standing in the way of progress.
Quotes attributable to Spokesperson for Gambling, Rebecca Vassarotti:
“Broken promise or no broken promise, good intentions or not, Labor’s squirming in the chamber today laid bare exactly who they are working for, and it sure as heck isn’t the everyday working people that elected them.
“Through all the political grandstanding and carefully polished overtures, one thing stood out, and it was Labor’s complete refusal to acknowledge that you cannot build a thriving night-time economy on the back of gambling harm.
“Time and again, the government hid behind the banner of the ‘night-time economy’ to dodge real, meaningful harm reduction.
“If this Minister truly believes our city’s nightlife is defined by a silent room of glowing poker machines at three in the morning, then she needs to step outside and see the real night-time economy of Canberra in the 21st century.
“To rely on this excuse is either wilfully blind or purposefully evasive. If the Minister believes our nightlife depends on keeping pokie venues open until dawn, then she is admitting that our nightlife depends on gambling harm, and if that harm is occurring, then that is precisely why we must intervene.
“The government is free to side with the club lobby, and free to argue that poker machines belong in the small hours of the night. But hiding behind a manufactured excuse about the night-time economy while pretending to care about reducing harm is cowardly. Pick a side, and stick to it.
“It is a heartbreakingly weak start for a Minister who spoke so boldly about reform, only to abandon the climb before even reaching the foothills.”