Howard said he was not comparing his gun control policies with poker machine reform, but he acknowledged that people still raised it with him as “one of the best things my government did”.

Perrottet has promised to release his reform plans ahead of the March election but has confirmed a cashless card would have spending limits. In Tasmania, the first state to introduce a cashless gaming card, default limits are $100 per day, $500 per month and $5000 annually.

The former prime minister’s strong stance is at odds with right-wing Liberal Transport Minister David Elliott, who last week made it clear that he was opposed to Perrottet’s plan, insisting all it would achieve was to shift gambling to other forms.

In an indication of the difficulty Perrottet will face shepherding gambling changes through his cabinet room, Elliott said he wanted proof cashless gaming worked elsewhere in the world before he supported the proposal.

Elliott, who has worked for the NSW Australian Hotels Association and has been a director of Castle Hill RSL Club, said reforming one type of gambling would only move the problem.

“What you’ll see is people just walking out of registered clubs and pubs and walking down the road and not putting the 20 bucks after bowls in a poker machine, but going … to the newsagency and buying 20 bucks worth of scratchies,” Elliott said on Friday.

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The Nationals are also resisting the card. Earlier this year, Hospitality Minister and Nationals MP Kevin Anderson said he did not support the government controlling a cashless gaming card, or it being mandatory.

Other high-profile supporters of a cashless gaming card include NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello, the NSW branch of Health Services Union and the United Workers Union, churches and leading charities.

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