New South Wales (NSW) Premier Dominic Perrottet has been supported by some of his political rivals as he criticised Josh Landis, the boss of ClubsNSW, who claimed that the recently announced gambling reforms were informed by Perrottet’s “catholic gut” rather than evidence.
The explosive claims made by Mr Landis fuelled even bigger controversy in the state, with the Premier attacking the ClubsNSW boss for what he said. The leader of the Opposition, Chris Minns, and other NSW politicians also supported Mr. Perrottet’s efforts to make the local gambling sector better regulated, while calling for Mr Landis to take his words back.
As already reported by Casino Guardian, gambling reform is set to be a major part of the election campaigns of both the Liberal and the Labour Party after the state Crime Commission issued a report containing a number of recommendations aimed at tackling gambling addiction and money laundering in New South Wales.
However, only recently, Mr Landis claimed that the NSW Premier was unaware of the complexity surrounding an effective gambling reform and criticised him for being unable to provide evidence because he was Catholic. ClubsNSW boss shared that the Premier had very little understanding of the issue and his proposals were backed only by “his conservative Catholic gut” rather than by actual evidence.
Josh Landis Terminated as ClubsNSW CEO with Immediate Effect
Earlier today, Mr Perrottet slammed the boss of ClubsNSW for his above-mentioned comments and shared an opinion that the claims represented an attack on all people of faith in New South Wales. According to him, such comments have no place in modern Australia, which is a tolerant country.
The Premier was asked whether he would find it difficult to work with Mr Landis after the latter’s disrespectful comments about his faith but Mr Perrottet shared that the negotiations about the state’s policies do not involve the personal views or faith of anyone. He noted that he was not focused on his comments but categorised them as “deeply offensive” to people of faith across New South Wales and said they had no place in a modern and tolerant country.
As mentioned above, a number of politicians, including some of the fiercest opponents of Mr Perrottet shared their support for the Premier and called for the ClubsNSW boss to immediately apologise and retract his discriminatory comments. The leader of the Opposition, Chris Minns, and the independent Member of Parliament Alex Greenwich were among the ones who backed up the Premier, insisting that the way Mr Landis formulated his position was unacceptable.
Earlier this morning, ClubsNSW published a statement on firing CEO Josh Landis after him making some controversial comments about the NSW Premier’s faith. Mr Landis was terminated as CEO with immediate effect.
The NSW Government is still expected to release its new gambling reform policy. It already pledged to unveil a cashless gaming card for all pokies across the state.
Apart from that, the upcoming political election in March 2023 will be the first in more than 10 years that ClubsNSW has not managed to secure a pre-election deal with the Liberal Party, after the now-Premier shared he did not intend to follow his predecessors on the job in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the body representing the legal pokie machine operators in New South Wales.
- Author
Daniel Williams
