TWIN Towns Services Club general manager Rob Smith has hit back at comments made by Tweed resident Laurie Ganter concerning the controversial pre-commitment poker machine technology proposal.

Comments by Mr Ganter were published in a letter to the editor in Tuesday's Tweed Daily News.

Mr Ganter stated the independent productivity commission “provided some very disturbing information about problem gamblers and how both clubs and the hotel industry are leeching massive funds from problem gamblers” and “it was the productivity commission that recommended pre-commitment”.

Mr Ganter also claimed the club and hotel industry had lost its moral compass and did not recognise the damage it was doing to the community.

Mr Smith has retorted, claiming the productivity commission did not recommend a national mandatory full pre-commitment scheme.

“The productivity commission did recognise that if you made changes with haste it would cost clubs and jobs, but their timeline for any significant change was 2016 and only then after research and trials had proved the viability of any proposals,” Mr Smith said.

“Mr Wilkie's (Andrew Wilkie, independent MP) proposal is an industry killer; it will destroy clubs and jobs because it is rushed, untested, expensive and ill-conceived.”

Mr Smith said that clubs fulfilled their moral obligation with pride and professionalism.

“If a person asks for help with any addiction in a club they will receive it in every way possible,” he said. “Mr Wilkie's system says it's okay to gamble if you have a problem, just set a limit.

“My guess is the licence you stick in a machine to control your urges won't be nearly as sympathetic or helpful as the venue staff who currently are trained to deal with these issues, because they do care.

“You can't have it both ways, and the people of Tweed and Australia need to decide if a licence to gamble, imposed on all, is an imposition worthy of clubs disappearing when it won't cure the problem of a very small sector of the adult community.”