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Last night saw an interesting moment in the current Federal election campaign. Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, live on stage at the Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney’s west… but not at the same time. An audience of 200 undecided voters to ask them the hard questions… although they seemed quite partial to Abbott, and saved the hardest questions for Gillard. I guess that’s inevitable, given he’s the local boy.

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But for me, the event provided a telling snapshot of the political world’s attitude towards poker machines and problem gambling. Rooty Hill RSL is massive, with a bowling alley and a laser skirmish centre to complement the 800 pokies in residence. Yes, 800 machines… as a Victorian, with our venue cap of 105 machines, that figure is almost unfathomable.

And in the middle of this massive pokies den were our top politicians. The prime minister and the leader of the opposition. They answered question after question from the Galaxy-poll-picked audience, while all around them hundreds of gamblers dropped their money into the pokies.

Yet no one mentioned problem gambling. No one mentioned the $12 billion lost nationally on the pokies. No one spoke about the proven links between problem gambling and depression, between problem gambling and suicide. Not the audience, not Tony Abbott, not Julia Gillard.

The poker machines and their impact on society were ignored by all and sundry… just as they have been right throughout this campaign.

I can only hope that, come election day, we get enough independent representation in the Senate and the House of Reps to force the problem gambling issue… but I’m not holding my breath. It seems that, regardless of who wins on the day, neither side cares enough to do anything about it.

POLITICIANS and newsreaders are being irresponsible by posing in front of poker machines during Prime Minister Julia Gillard's five-day visit to Rooty Hill in western Sydney, anti-gambling campaigners say.

The Nine Network broadcast its evening news bulletin with pokie lights flashing in the background at the Rooty Hill RSL on Monday.

Labor ministers Anthony Albanese and David Bradbury were interviewed by Sky News in front of gaming machines at the venue.

Monash University gambling expert Charles Livingstone has told AAP that shows 'how far we have to go' before people understand gambling addictions.

'Would either of those people conduct interviews or news programs in front of a bar full of people drinking too much or a room full of people smoking?' Dr Livingstone asked.

'It just demonstrates that politicians don't get it, these are dangerous goods.

'Seeing someone standing in front of a row of poker machines, (on television) in some cases could be enough to get people into difficulty,' he said.

Poker machines should not be shown on television when children are watching, he said.

Rooty Hill, known to some as the 'Vegas of the west', has more than 700 gaming machines.

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Dr Livingstone said the fact the social fabric of western Sydney was wound up with poker machines was worrying.

'Those places make an awful lot of money out of people who can ill afford to lose it,' he said.

The Rooty Hill RSL Club is in the electorate of Chifley held by Labor backbencher Ed Husic.

NSW Office of Liquor and Gambling Regulation statistics in 2010-11 show people in Chifley lost $113 million on 1532 poker machines.

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Each machine netted $73,000, with the losses equating to $1058 per adult in an electorate where the average person's income is $423 per week.

Anti-gambling campaigner independent senator Nick Xenophon said senior politicians appeared to be 'joined at the hip' to the poker machine industry.

'The irony is that people who are hurt most by poker machines are the battlers, the constituents who are supposed to be (Labor's) core concern,' he said.

Comment has been sought from the Nine Network and Sky News.

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A spokesman for Mr Albanese said it was not the minister's choice of location but he was in the broadcaster's hands.

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Originally published asMinisters slammed for posing with pokies