The Catholic Church and a joint churches anti-gambling taskforce has distanced themselves 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.
Father Riley, whose charity receives 2per 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 mid-next year - have been fiercely opposed by clubs.
Catholic Social Services Australia executive director Paul O'Callaghan said yesterday that Father 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.
''Gambling counselling definitely has its part to play but the policy response requires a range of strategies.''
Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce chairman the Reverend Tim Costello said the $5billion cost of problem gambling on pokies continued to rise despite extra counselling services.
He said Father 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 said 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 2.6per cent of all the pokies funds go to community groups and clubs get over half a billion dollars in tax concessions,'' he said.
Father Riley dismissed claims he had sold out as ''outrageous'', saying his charity received $122,000 from registered clubs, or 0.5per cent of its budget.
He said Mr Wilkie's proposal was ''random''. ''Why do we put up with one politician making these sorts of demands?''
Clubs Australia boss Anthony Ball hailed Father 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 Father 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,'' he said.
Fellow anti-gambling politician Nick Xenophon said Father 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.
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