Today's announcement is also Ms White drawing a line in the sand to separate her team and her leadership from the Labor of yesterday, the party that signed the original monopoly deal with the Federal Group. It will truly be a battle of who can sell the message most effectively. In the blue corner, there will be the argument that removing poker machines will cost jobs in regional Tasmania, that Labor is sidling up to the Greens and that punters should be able to spend money however they like. In the red corner, there will be the argument that poker machines are doing significant harm to communities that can least afford it and that for the first time in Tasmanian history, a vote for one of the major parties is a vote for poker machines out of pubs and clubs. On most big issues the public see the major parties as essentially one and the same, but today's announcement will change that.
