An Australian politician isn’t backing away from controversial comments likening problem gambling behavior to excessive chocolate intake.

Australia is awash with video poker (pokies) machines, with an estimated 200k pokies scattered across casinos, pubs and clubs. Pokies are considered a primary source of the nation’s ranks of problem gamblers and various proposals have been put forth to limit pokies-related harm, including pre-commitment technology that allows punters to set spending limits in advance.

More recently, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has been considering a Greens Party proposal that would impose a daily $250 ‘cash out’ limit on eftpos (debit card) terminals in clubs that also offer pokies. The eftpos terminals were introduced in 2014, shortly after the ACT imposed a similar withdrawal limit on clubs’ automated teller machines (ATM).

On Thursday, the ACT’s Liberal party’s gambling spokesman Mark Parton rose in the Assembly to criticize the Greens plan. Parton said clubs depend on punters being able to get cash for purposes other than gambling and begged his fellow pols “to exercise tolerance and refrain from using blunt force.”