Rebecca White is getting increasingly cagey on her flagship anti-pokies election policy as the divide in the Labor ranks deepens and pressure on her leadership mounts.
During her Budget reply yesterday, Ms White failed to mention, even once, the anti-pokies policy that she not only penned but made the centrepiece of her failed election campaign.
The calculated omission highlights the internal divide in the Labor ranks over the policy and the leader who led them to election defeat with it.
The plot then thickened when moments following the speech, when out of earshot of pro-pokies leadership aspirant David O’Byrne, Ms White doubled-down in her failed policy saying:
“The Tasmanian Labor Party remains firmly committed to our policy position we took to the last election. We recognise problem gaming particularly caused by electronic gaming machines causes considerable harm across our community.”*
It is clear that Ms White has put all her chips on the table, backing her policy. If it goes, she goes.
It is no wonder that Ms White cancelled Labor’s July State Conference where her failed pokies policy and leadership would be on the line. Does Ms White have enough time to shore-up her leadership before the September Showdown?
*ABC Radio