How Australia’s most powerful lobby sways votes and swings seats

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has had the gambling industry in his sights for more than a decade. But then, the industry has also had its sights set on him.The former soldier-turned-spy — who first came head-to-head with the government in 2003 when he blew the whistle on the flawed intelligence case for the Iraq War — is no stranger to conflict. But, he admits, when he took on the gambling industry in 2010, he wasn’t prepared for the bloodbath that followed.”I underestimated the power of the poker machine lobby,” Wilkie says.”At the end of the day, even at the highest level, [Australia’s…