As an independent candidate at the 2008 ACT election, Mr Parton had a policy to support pokies in the casino, saying "they are a must if the casino is to compete on a level playing field and get back to being a profitable venture".

In 2010, he wrote a blog post on the issue, which is published on Casino Canberra's blog. In it, he said he had never understood why the casino didn't have poker machines.

"You think about the Melbourne couple who are holidaying in Canberra. They decide to go to [the] casino for a Friday night. He wants to play the tables, she going to have a go on the pokies. They don't get it once they get here and for some reason there are not machines," he wrote, blaming the ACT's reliance on income from the Labor Club's poker machines.

"We should have poker machines in Casino Canberra. Unfortunately, I can't see them winning this fight."

Now, the casino is poised to win the fight, with the Labor government giving the green light for 200 poker machines - although the Greens Shane Rattenbury wants strict bet limits and other restrictions that might hit the viability of the plan.

Asked about his change of position on Tuesday, Mr Parton said people were not "born as robots with the party mantra" and from time to time would hold a different position to their party.

"I think one of the healthiest things about the Liberal Party is that it is such a broad church. I know that there will be some things that we may disagree on. But I'm also a team man," he said.

But Mr Parton said he had already changed his view on poker machines in the casino, "well and truly before I was in the preselection gun for Brindabella".

Now, he said,"I struggle with the trashing of the community model of poker machines in the ACT," he said, referring to the current rules that allow poker machines only in clubs. "I think we've got a unique scenario there which has served the community very well and I don't want to see them end."

Mr Parton was chosen by the Liberals' management committee on Monday night to replace Brendan Smyth on the Liberals' ticket of candidates contesting the five seats in the Brindabella seat of Tuggeranong.

He beat out five others for the spot, including federal Senate candidate Jane Hiatt. The seat was strongly contested, given it considered a winnable one for the Liberals, who have three seas in Brindabella currently and expect to win three at the October election, despite the Sex Party's belief that it has a good chance at the Liberals' third seat in Brindabella.