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WHAT is wrong with this picture? Back in May of last year the much loved Channel Nine commentator Ray Warren was up front about the amount of money he had lost through gambling over the years and said something needed to be done. ''It annoys me,'' he said frankly, ''that gambling, as a vice, gets swept under the carpet as a destroyer of people and families. It hasn't been attacked in the same way as tobacco. Certainly, you can bet safely, unlike smoking, but it is a very serious problem, and it annoys me that many people don't realise how serious it can be if you let it get out of control. I've seen some very good friends of mine end up in psychiatric homes, others in jail, and it's very sad what can happen.''
So far, so good.
Warren was correct in every particular, and he spoke with the authority of one who had suffered himself. Fortunately, within our political ranks two men had the courage to actually try to do something - Andrew Wilkie and Senator Nick Xenephon. On a hiding to nothing, knowing they would be slaughtered by the powerful forces arrayed against them, they have been pushing through the legislation to make problem gamblers, set a limit before they begin gambling, before the fever hits them and they devastatingly try to recoup their losses, as the grocery money follows the rent money, follows the family fortune. And so we get to the Broncos versus Manly game of two Fridays ago, as half-time finishes. Ray Warren and Phil Gould are in the chair, and as Manly return to the field the two launch into what is clearly a carefully prepared political diatribe. ''Not only has the Manly football club been doing great work on the field this season,'' Rabs starts off, ''they've also been very busy working with the community off the field.'' He goes on to detail the commendable programs run by the Sea Eagles, being paid for by pokies, and then says the technology for the pre-commitment legislation is ''untested''. Please go to the next item to see what happens next …
BIASED CALL
Cue Phil Gould, still as part of what is meant to be football commentary: ''Yeah, the proposed mandatory pre-commitment that they've put forward is a rubbish policy. It won't work. It won't solve the problem they say they're going to target, and it will do irreparable damage to the hospitality industry. It won't work and it will hurt.'' Gentlemen, please! You, Rabs? You know the damage done by the problem gamblers and yet the first time anyone actually does try to do something, and not sweep it under the carpet, you're a party to attacking it in this manner? And you, Phil? Are we being dinkum here? All this great support being offered by the clubs for ''community programs''? How much is it actually? Well, 2BL's Adam Spencer had Don Feltis, the chairman of your club, the Panthers, on this week, and he acknowledged that of the $92 million they get from pokies, they distribute directly to the community just $2.7 million. On that reckoning, for every $100 of the resources of a needy family that disappears down the gullet of the pokies, just $2.50 or so comes back out to support the ''community''. Great stuff, mate. A brilliant reason to bag the legislation in this manner. And yes, yes, I know, you just don't think it will work, and you think there are other ways. The problem is, we never hear of the other ways, beyond the ludicrous ''self-exclusion policies''. Surely the fact that more than 40 per cent of pokies losses comes from problem gamblers is a fair indication that that one ain't the answer? Or is the bottom line that whole kingdoms of which you are princes are built on those problem gamblers, and so they must be allowed to continue to fund it? You blokes are kidding, and you MUST know it!
So far, so good.
Warren was correct in every particular, and he spoke with the authority of one who had suffered himself. Fortunately, within our political ranks two men had the courage to actually try to do something - Andrew Wilkie and Senator Nick Xenephon. On a hiding to nothing, knowing they would be slaughtered by the powerful forces arrayed against them, they have been pushing through the legislation to make problem gamblers, set a limit before they begin gambling, before the fever hits them and they devastatingly try to recoup their losses, as the grocery money follows the rent money, follows the family fortune. And so we get to the Broncos versus Manly game of two Fridays ago, as half-time finishes. Ray Warren and Phil Gould are in the chair, and as Manly return to the field the two launch into what is clearly a carefully prepared political diatribe. ''Not only has the Manly football club been doing great work on the field this season,'' Rabs starts off, ''they've also been very busy working with the community off the field.'' He goes on to detail the commendable programs run by the Sea Eagles, being paid for by pokies, and then says the technology for the pre-commitment legislation is ''untested''. Please go to the next item to see what happens next …
BIASED CALL
Cue Phil Gould, still as part of what is meant to be football commentary: ''Yeah, the proposed mandatory pre-commitment that they've put forward is a rubbish policy. It won't work. It won't solve the problem they say they're going to target, and it will do irreparable damage to the hospitality industry. It won't work and it will hurt.'' Gentlemen, please! You, Rabs? You know the damage done by the problem gamblers and yet the first time anyone actually does try to do something, and not sweep it under the carpet, you're a party to attacking it in this manner? And you, Phil? Are we being dinkum here? All this great support being offered by the clubs for ''community programs''? How much is it actually? Well, 2BL's Adam Spencer had Don Feltis, the chairman of your club, the Panthers, on this week, and he acknowledged that of the $92 million they get from pokies, they distribute directly to the community just $2.7 million. On that reckoning, for every $100 of the resources of a needy family that disappears down the gullet of the pokies, just $2.50 or so comes back out to support the ''community''. Great stuff, mate. A brilliant reason to bag the legislation in this manner. And yes, yes, I know, you just don't think it will work, and you think there are other ways. The problem is, we never hear of the other ways, beyond the ludicrous ''self-exclusion policies''. Surely the fact that more than 40 per cent of pokies losses comes from problem gamblers is a fair indication that that one ain't the answer? Or is the bottom line that whole kingdoms of which you are princes are built on those problem gamblers, and so they must be allowed to continue to fund it? You blokes are kidding, and you MUST know it!
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