FED:Fr Riley has conflict on pokies: church

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2011
FED:Fr Riley has conflict on pokies: church

By Paul Osborne and Lisa Martin

CANBERRA, Dec 7 AAP - The Catholic church and a joint churches anti-gambling taskforce
has distanced itself from a priest's decision to take part in a gaming industry campaign
against the government's pokies reforms.

Youth Off The Streets founder Father Chris Riley appears on a flyer for Clubs Australia
that will be distributed in 46 Labor and independent electorates in Victoria, NSW and
Queensland.

Fr Riley, whose charity receives two per cent of its donations from registered clubs,
believes education and counselling, not legislation, is the better way to help problem
gamblers.

Under a deal independent MP Andrew Wilkie struck with federal Labor, poker machine
players will be required to preset a limit on how much they plan to gamble on high-stakes
poker machines.

Alternatively, high-bet poker machines could be reprogrammed to cap losses at $120
an hour, rather than $1200 an hour, and the low-bet machines would not require pre-commitment
cards.

The measures - expected to be legislated in mid-2012 - have been fiercely opposed by clubs.

Catholic Social Services Australia executive director Paul O'Callaghan said in a statement
on Wednesday Fr Riley's position was his own and did not reflect the position of the Catholic
Church.

"As an organisation working with marginalised and disadvantaged people throughout Australia,
we are all too aware that problem gambling is alive and well in our community," he said,
adding it could have devastating consequences for individuals and families.

"Gambling counselling definitely has its part to play but the policy response requires
a range of strategies."

Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce chairman Tim Costello said the $5 billion cost
of problem gambling on pokies continued to rise despite extra counselling services.

Mr Costello said Fr Riley was "conflicted".

"When you are taking the dollars from the pokies lobby and then being their face you
have to explain that conflict," he told reporters in Canberra.

"That conflict runs through every vested interest in this debate."

It was a "hoax" to argue that community groups would miss out on funds if pokies reforms
went ahead.

"About 2.6 per cent of all the pokies funds go to community groups and clubs get over
half a billion dollars in tax concessions," he said.

Fr Riley dismissed as "outrageous" claims he had sold out, saying his charity received
$122,000 from registered clubs, or 0.5 per cent of its budget.

Fr Riley said Mr Wilkie's proposal was "random".

"Why do we put up with one politician making these sorts of demands?" he said.

Clubs Australia boss Anthony Ball hailed Fr Riley's involvement, saying he was a compassionate
man who cared deeply about problem gamblers.

"However, he knows that problem gamblers don't need a gambling card, they need counselling
and face-to-face support."

Mr Wilkie said while he admired Fr Riley and respected his opinions, the priest was
not impartial.

"His point of view is at odds with a mountain of evidence to the contrary," the MP told AAP.

Fellow anti-gambling politician Nick Xenophon said Fr Riley's position had been portrayed
as an ace in the pack for the poker machine lobby.

"I see it more as the joker card," Senator Xenophon said.

AAP pjo/rl/mjs/de

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