2017-04-20
The Liberal-National party’s pledge to relax criteria for two new casinos in regional Queensland is more proof they’re putting the interests of big donors before the community, says Michael Berkman, Greens candidate for Maiwar and state spokesperson.
“Queensland already has the highest number of casinos in Australia, and the LNP are bizarrely promising to put more in areas of the state without high populations or an international airport nearby.
“More casinos is not a plan for sustainable jobs.
“These casinos would rely on pokies, which rip money from the poorest in our State and put it straight into the pockets of billionaire gambling companies.
“The only logical conclusion to draw is that the LNP are motivated by the wishes of their major political donors in the property development and gambling industries, who have donated over $635,000 to them in just the last 18 months.
“The social cost of gambling in Australia is $4.7 billion a year. More casinos in Queensland will just tear more families apart.
“It’s high time the LNP stuck up for communities and the wellbeing of families that have elected them - not big business, who will be the only beneficiaries of new casinos in Queensland”.