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Key cross-bench senator-elect Nick Xenophon is calling on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to begin tackling the presence of poker machines in the ACT Labor Club.

He said, ''I think the PM has the moral persuasion, the authority, the leadership to start on his own home turf by tackling the issue of the 275 poker machines in ACT's Labor Club.''

The club is the ACT Labor Party's biggest donor, providing 40per cent, or $238,552, of its $587,123 annual income, according to figures from the Australian Electoral Commission.

Senator-elect Xenophon first came to politics on a ''no pokies'' platform in South Australia and poker machines are still an issue of passionate concern for the man who along with the Greens and Family First will hold the balance of power in the new Senate from tomorrow.

But he said yesterday he was not offering to trade his vote on other contentious pieces of legislation for support in fighting the machines.

''The moment that you start horse-trading you lose credibility. Horse-trading means you vote for something you don't believe in in order to get something that you want ... and you an end up with a donkey or even a Trojan horse.''

Senator-elect Xenophon also dismissed the possibility of legislation that would specifically target the ACT. ''You can't have legislation that targets one part of the industry: it has to be a broader thing than that,'' he said.

He wants to use the Commonwealth's corporations power which allowed the previous federal government to overrule the states and introduce WorkChoices to tackle the problem. The first step would be removing bank machines from poker machine venues.

''I believe the evidence is overwhelming that having ATM access at pokies venues is a key driver to gambling addiction. It is a real factor in gambling addiction.''

He addressed the Australasian Gaming Expo yesterday, telling those present that poker machines were ''inherently unsafe'' and they were deliberately ignoring the damage they caused.

In a no-holds-barred speech that drew only muted clapping, he told the assembled poker machine manufacturers and operators that he wanted to shut their industry down.

''Your machines are inherently unsafe,'' he said.

''When other products have been found to cause significant harm to a significant number of users, they have been banned.''

He cited Productivity Commission data from 1999 that said one in 20 poker machine players went on to become problem gamblers.

''You call it entertainment or gaming: I call it obscene.''

canberratimes.com.au