Clubs Attack Salvation Army Over Pokie Reform

An unexpected battle between clubs in New South Wales and the Salvation Army seems to be coming to a close. Several clubs in NSW had banned Salvation Army members from performing activities on their premises, due to the fact that the Salvation Army had come out in favor of poker machine reforms that would affect Australian clubs.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the policy was put into place by six clubs out of approximately 1,500 in NSW. One such club was the St. George Motor Boat Club, which had banned the Salvation Army from its club and prevented them from selling their weekly magazine, War Cry.

“The board decided that if the Salvation Army was going to act against the club long a generous financial supporter, they could go elsewhere to raise their money,” said club operations manager David Moffatt.

However, the club changed its policy this week, and has once again allowed Salvation Army workers on their premises. The change, according to Moffatt, came because of reports that the Salvation Army had withdrawn their support for poker machine reform.

Interestingly, however, the Salvation Army denies having made any significant changes to their position on the pokies reform that has been proposed by the Gillard government. Instead, a representative of the Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory – which covers NSW and Queensland, two of the areas that would be most affected by the reform laws – says that they simply want to see more trials of pre-commitment technology before fully endorsing such a program.

The poker machine reform debate is mostly the work of Independent MP Andrew Wilkie who has been pushing for anti-gambling legislation. In fact, Wilkie was a critical addition in the formation of the Gillard government coalition – but only agreed to join the government in exchange for a promise that poker machine reform would be passed.

Not surprisingly, Wilkie attacked the clubs that chose to shut out the Salvation Army.

''That the [clubs] industry is prepared to stoop so low as to intimidate and misrepresent an iconic welfare group like the Salvos just goes to show how desperate the industry is to protect its profits,” Wilkie said.