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Thursday, October 3, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Are Labor and the Greens getting divorced? 

Poker machines… Labor is exposed to accusations over conflict of interest when it comes to pokies.

“The Greens and Labor have been arm-wrestling for years to be the most progressive political party. By accusing Labor of refusing to look after the most vulnerable, the Greens appear more progressive,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

Are ACT Labor and the Greens going for a divorce? Is it just a trial separation? 

Michael Moore.

In the lead-up to the October 19 ACT election both parties are trying to untangle themselves from the coalition that they have managed for the best part of a decade.

The failure of Labor to support the amendments proposed by Greens Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has been a catalyst for an opportunistic separation. 

A media release from Mr Rattenbury points the finger at their coalition partner. It screams: “Labor Fails Vulnerable Canberrans and Abandons Their Own Pokie Reforms”.

The Greens are hitting out at Labor on two fronts. First, Labor is supposed to be the party that protects vulnerable people. Second, and perhaps more importantly, Labor is exposed to accusations over conflict of interest when it comes to poker machines.

The Greens and Labor have been arm-wrestling for years to be the most progressive political party. By accusing Labor of refusing to look after the most vulnerable, the Greens appear more progressive. 

It might just be on this issue of gambling – but it does remind voters that the Greens are a viable alternative to those who are annoyed by Labor on other issues.

The reform bill introduced by the Greens and recently debated in the Assembly was successful to some extent. There will be restrictions on poker machines being now set at a maximum of 3500 throughout the ACT.

However, an angry Shane Rattenbury was beside himself about the last-minute failure of Labor to “follow through on even the minimalist proposal they had put on the table”. The catalyst was the failure of ACT Labor to support “their own amendments to (further) reduce poker machine numbers in the ACT, despite the Greens providing clear indication we would support the proposal”. 

There was a small concession, “reducing the machine numbers alone wouldn’t address the deep harm that comes from machines, it would be a small positive step in the right direction”. 

However, Mr Rattenbury argued that “the ACT Greens are in politics because we want to get good outcomes for the community”.

The implication is that Labor MLAs are not in politics to get good outcomes for the community. The Greens sully the reputation of their coalition colleagues. This was followed by Yerrabi MLA Andrew Braddock specifically identifying the conflict of interest that Labor has always had regarding revenue from poker machines going into party coffers. 

He argued: “ACT Labor has sunk to a new low today and in doing so, cemented the fact that they are so impossibly compromised by their links to the poker machines”. 

In looking for a separation, Braddock went further and, supported by the Liberals, demanded that Labor separate itself from poker machine revenue.

In response, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has slammed these comments as provocative and defamatory. Keep in mind that the Labor Club has an objective “to promote and support the Labor Party”. The Labor Club over its three venues has just over 400 poker machines that assist in returning a tidy surplus to the clubs. 

At this stage, the Labor Clubs have stopped donating to ACT Labor. The Greens point out that there is nothing to stop them re-commencing such donations. 

Labor is also interested in being seen as separate from the Greens for the upcoming election. But perhaps the price over poker machines seems too great. And what about backbench members who are tied by party decisions? 

Murrumbidgee electorate Labor MLA, Dr Marisa Paterson, has a long history of commitment to gambling reform. She told me that she was “disappointed the amendments she had prepared were not supported by either the Greens or the Liberals”.

However, she was not fazed, arguing Labor had prepared “a comprehensive package including further reduction in poker machine numbers and the requirement for cashless poker machines to take to the election”. Cashless poker machines allow more control regarding things like precommitment and restrictions on amounts gambled.

As a compromise, Labor and the Greens have agreed to an independent inquiry. The inquiry will have the aim “to assist the government on the steps necessary to develop and implement a club industry revenue, activity and a worker transition plan”.

Labor and the Greens have so much more in common than they have differences. Expect that this will be a short-term trial separation rather than ongoing conflict leading to divorce.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

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Michael Moore

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5 Responses to Are Labor and the Greens getting divorced? 

Palmerston's Lament says: 10 September 2024 at 7:34 am

Look at it more as a forlorn hope at brand differentiation ahead of the election. The Greens brand is harshly tainted as they have proven themselves to nothing like the party of the protest they presented at the last election.

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cbrapsycho says: 10 September 2024 at 8:57 am

Both parties have failed the Canberra community miserably. They have put their own desires before the wishes and needs of Canberrans. Sadly the Libs do not present a reasonable alternative, so we need to fill the Assembly with independents who actually represent Canberra’s essential needs for a city that is clean, functional and well maintained.

We used to have better public transport across all of Canberra, better footpaths, more open space, parks and streets with more healthy trees to shade us from the hot summer sun. All has been neglected with more steel, asphalt, concrete, glass the cluttering our once beautiful city without there being a benefit in more social housing, nor support for people who are ageing and disabled. They’ve failed to represent us on so many fronts.

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Red says: 11 September 2024 at 11:17 am

To fill the ACT Assembly with independents, we have to get together and decide on a voting system to make sure independents are elected. In other words we have to make sure we all vote for independents in an agreed order. I look forward to finding a relevant website or social media page widely publicised as a matter of urgency. I am too old and decrepit to do it.

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John Bell says: 10 September 2024 at 1:46 pm

I agree that the current govt has been a dismal failure. Massive waste ($75m on a “learning experience” for Steel). Roads not maintained (some potholes and broken bitumen has remained unrepaired for nearly two years). The policies which the Greens are advocating border on financial irresponsibility. ACT debt has reached unbelievable levels (think $2m per day interest payments). Rates have risen much faster that inflation, making Canberra less affordable for both owners and renters (owners have to pass on cost increases to tenants. And then there is the stupdity of Light Rail stage 2B ($4 billion when much cheaper electric buses would do civic to Woden in half the time of the tram.
Let’s vote for a change of govt.

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Uncle Red says: 15 September 2024 at 3:51 pm

John, the policies which the Greens are advocating are designed to destroy the Bush Capital as part of their head office’s wider plan to destroy the Australia which already “is not Australia anymore”, as the song goes, but then there is also another summary of the state of the nation in another song which tells that Australia doesn’t even belong to us anymore and that seems to fit with the Green’s policies as well.

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