Dominic Perrottet: Flippant ‘Catholic’ comment enrages NSW Premier

A top club industry lobbyist has been sacked over a flippant comment he made about New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet’s Catholic faith.

Josh Landis was removed as chief executive of ClubsNSW on Tuesday afternoon following a meeting of the club’s board of directors, after Landis made comments saying Perrottet’s drive to reform the game was influenced by his religion.

A statement shared by Clubs NSW thanked Mr Landis for his “service to the industry” and said the end of his employment was “effective immediately”.

‘ClubsNSW have met today to discuss comments made by CEO Josh Landis yesterday,’ it said.

“After careful consideration, the Board has made the decision to terminate Mr Landis’s employment with ClubsNSW with immediate effect.

‘The Board recognizes Josh Landis’ exemplary service to the industry over 15 years during very difficult times. We sincerely wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

“The Board will consider its next steps and has no further comment at this time.”

Landis said that Dominic Perrottet had “acted from his conservative Catholic instincts” on the issue of a cashless playing card. The comment drew a visceral response from the prime minister.

“It is incredibly inappropriate and offensive to people of faith throughout New South Wales,” Perrottet said Tuesday.

‘(The comments) are an attack on every person of faith in our state.

“We live in a tolerant state, a tolerant country, and there is no place for comments like that in modern Australia.”

Making the same comment about the Islamic, Jewish or Hindu religions would result in a resignation, the prime minister said earlier on Sydney radio 2GB.

Mr. Landis had commented on Mr. Perrottet’s commitment to mandate cashless play for the poker machines.

“I think it’s fair to say that the prime minister has very little understanding of this issue and has acted from his conservative Catholic instincts, rather than based on evidence,” Landis told the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday.

At lunchtime, Landis withdrew his comments and privately apologized to the prime minister.

“I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize unreservedly for any offense caused,” he said in a public statement.

He said he was responding to a question about the prime minister being “so insistent” on introducing a mandatory cashless system and other gambling reforms.

The comment was not premeditated or an intentional personal attack, he said.

“Rather it was a poor attempt to explain that there is a lack of evidence for the policy and that the prime minister is a moral person who inherently wants to help those who are doing harm to themselves.”

Ahead of the apology, Independent MP Alex Greenwich, who has been critical of ClubsNSW, said Landis’s position as chief executive was “beyond untenable and it was time for him to go”.

Multicultural Minister Mark Coure called the comment “a childish attempt to divert attention from a major social issue in New South Wales.”

Problem gambling has become a hot topic ahead of the state election on March 25, with political parties under pressure to introduce cashless gambling after a NSW Crime Commission report found that billions of dollars in dirty money were laundered through machines each year.

ClubsNSW published a code of conduct on Monday offering a number of reforms to the industry, including a ban on suspected criminals, in a bid to prevent the introduction of mandatory cashless gaming cards.

But Perrottet remains committed to introducing the cards, saying details of the government’s proposal will be released “soon”.

Labor says it will reduce the number of poker machines and introduce a cashless play trial at 500 of the state’s 90,000 machines.