Xenophon pledges to fight on Down Under
Anti-gambling Senator Nick Xenophon refutes claims he will be sidelined from next month when he loses the balance of power in the Senate.
Australian anti-gambling Senator Nick Xenophon has vowed to “be a pesky, persistent bastard in and out of the Senate” despite losing the balance of power in Australia’s upper house next month.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) last month refused to bow to pressure from Independent senator and anti-pokies campaigner Xenophon to include casino sites in its review of whether poker sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt are in breach of the country’s Interactive Gambling Act (IGA).
This followed an announcement by Xenophon that he was to expand the remit of his Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform Inquiry, of which he is deputy chair, to include online casino after the Australian Crime Commission had, at the request of the FBI, urged the AFP to charge poker sites in alleged breach of the IGA. Xenophon said the FBI and AFP would be invited to make submissions to the inquiry.
But on 1 July, following their success in last year’s election, nine Greens will gain the power in their own right to effectively block and influence government legislation within an Australian upper house. The minority Labor government and the Liberal Party currently cancel each other out in the Senate by both holding 32 seats within the 76-member body.
This marks a decisive shift to the left in the Australian upper house, where South Australian independent Xenophon currently holds the balance of power with five Green party senators and Family First Senator Steve Fielding.
Xenophon, who entered the Senate in 2007 after serving ten years in the South Australia parliament on an anti-gambling and no pokies ticket, however played down the development, amid claims from political analysts that his vote and therefore his voice would effectively become insignificant:
“Most of your influence comes from being able to influence the wider debate on an issue, and if you are successful, you can actually change the way the major parties vote. That’s what I have done for the past three years and I will continue to do that”, Xenophon told Adelaide Today.
“I can honestly say I plan to be a pesky, persistent bastard in and out of the Senate for the next three years”, he added.