Ex-Labor man blast for party

Party accused of ‘spitting in face of members’

A FORMER Labor candidate has accused the party of “spitting in the face of its members” by backing the government’s gambling industry reforms.

Labor members voted with the government in a series of divisions on the floor in Parliament last week in support of its Gaming Control Amendment Bill.

Fabiano Cangelosi, who stood for Labor in the seat of Franklin at the May 1 state election, has written to Labor’s state and federal MPs saying that by “capitulating on a matter of principle, it will have surrendered the very heart of the party to the business lobby”.

“We may yet see the party convulse in a further paroxysm in the coming months,” Mr Cangelosi wrote.

A FORMER Labor candidate has accused the party of “spitting in the face of its members” by backing the government's gambling industry reforms.

Labor members voted with the government in a series of divisions on the floor in parliament last week in support of its Gaming Control Amendment Bill.

Fabiano Cangelosi, who stood for Labor in the seat of Franklin at the state election on May 1, has written to Labor’s state and federal MPs, saying that by “capitulating on a matter of principle, it will have surrendered the very heart of the party to the business lobby”.

“We may yet see the party convulse in a further paroxysm in the coming months,” Mr Cangelosi wrote.

“But mark the passage of the government Bill without any legislated harm minimisation measures as that point.

“Because, by ignoring the platform, the parliamentary Labor caucus will have spat in the face of its members.

“By siding with a conservative government, it will have been complicit in the betrayal of the most vulnerable.”

Labor MP Michelle O’Byrne said Labor’s policy had changed since the 2018 election – when it wanted to ban poker machines outside of casinos.

“So obviously the Labor Party has gone through a very long process around a gaming reform and electronic gaming,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“No one is unaware that it was our position in 2018. We took a very strong case to the community, the community did not embrace that case.”

She said the party was focused on pursuing harmminimisation measures enacted to better protect problem gamblers.

Mr Cangelosi said he had spoken to many Labor members who wanted the party fight harder to protect those at risk of problem gambling and not leave the fight to the Greens and independents.

“Now is the time for us to treat Labor principles as both our anchor and our compass,” he wrote.

“Now is the time for us to weigh that anchor deep, and to fix our position in the labour movement.

“Now is the time for us to let that compass show true north.”

Mr Cangelosi, a wellknown criminal barrister, received 724 primary votes in the May 1 poll, the lowest for a Labor candidate in the seat.