source : the age
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GAMBLING
Our prime minister is working on his everyman image: “Everybody has the right to have a punt”.
He is, probably deliberately, missing the point. The discussion is not about whether gambling should be banned, but about whether it should be advertised to all at every opportunity, using all of the well-worn manipulative tactics of advertisers.
It is the ceaseless advertising that recruits more addicts, just as the tobacco industry did years ago. Our success with reduction of smoking owes a lot to the advertising ban. This is what the gambling companies and their shills fear the most.
Although, perhaps we should yearn for the days when gambling was banned – the old SP bookie had to be discreet, so couldn’t advertise, and he could take your kneecaps, but not usually your house, marriage, kids or life.
The government needs to grow a spine and ignore those profiting from this rip-off, also their shills in the media and sporting codes. Life went on perfectly well before industrialised gambling and the mayhem it causes.
The advertising ban got unanimous support in a cross-party committee, almost unheard of for any other issue. He needs to grow a spine and honour Peta Murphy. It is the least he could do.
Andrew Watkins, Olinda
Opt out of gambling ads
Until I became aware of SBS’s option to opt out of one of three categories of advertising, I was becoming extremely annoyed at the large number of gambling ads appearing. Now, I instantly exercise the choice to stop seeing the ads.
If the data from SBS is any guide, the federal government new rules allowing gambling adds on streaming with this opt out option is disappointing as it will likely be very ineffectual unless it is regularly advertised and made easy to access.
Figures show only about 0.12 per cent of active SBS users have opted out of these ads. Of that small fraction, 90 per cent have chosen to block gambling.
Anne Maki, Alphington
Why is it legal and why allow its advertising?
Why do we even allow gambling companies to fleece our citizens of millions of dollars, let alone advertise their subversive wares?
George Stockman, Bendigo
It’s not only ads, it’s machines in seniors’ clubs
While the call to end gaming ads online platforms is welcome, the real tragedy to our seniors is hidden in the bright lights and bells of poker machines in what should be safe places in our community.
The tragedy of financial ruin and shame to those who have worked hard and paid taxes is hidden and remains unaddressed right under our noses. It is hard to explain why poker machines are enabled to strip the financial resources of our seniors when the problem has been known for such a long time.
Our service clubs have a lot to answer for when they are a Trojan horse hiding daylight robbery under the guise of welcome and community benefit.
No one denies the fun a little flutter can bring but the scandalous rip-off that the machines represent when peoples’ life savings and houses can disappear through gaming machines stands as an indictment on the clubs that proclaim respect for national values and support for community programs.
The spotlight needs to shine brightly, not just to protect young people, but also to defend the interests of older vulnerable people whose stories will never be heard because of the shame they have endured in losing everything.
I have conducted a number of paupers’ funerals of fine, upstanding local people who have lost everything thanks to the blindness of government and the moral turpitude of company directors who should know better.
Peter MacLeod-Miller, Rector, St Matthew’s Church, Albury
THE FORUM
Good deeds undone
Father Kevin Dillon rightly condemns the Christian Brothers for their antics in not living up to their responsibilities in relation to compensation for those students who were abused within their schools (“As a priest, I wonder what Jesus would say about the Christian Brothers crying poor”, 5/7).
He has, over the past 17 years, dedicated an enormous amount of time to the scourge of clerical abuse and been prepared to challenge the hierarchy with regard to the appalling abuse perpetrated over many years by Catholic priests and members of religious orders.
It may be legal for the Brothers to shift assets, but it does not satisfy a culture of care. Over many years, the order has educated thousands of students, many of whom have gone on to high levels of professional employment, but all the good is undone by every move they make to shirk their responsibilities.
Father Dillon deserves the highest commendation for the compassion he has shown to the many victims who have sought his counsel.
Anne Fitzpatrick, Abbotsford
Beyond unconscionable
I am a former student of the Christian Brothers and a retired finance professional. The actions of the order to restructure their assets and financial affairs to avoid their legal and moral responsibilities is, as many have said, beyond unconscionable.
What I also find distressing is the restructure would have required high-level legal and accounting advice. These advisers would have known what was being done with their advice. Have they no shame?
The professional bodies that oversee these advice firms should be examining their input into this matter to see if they should still practise.
Steve Griffin, West Coburg
Profound moral failure
I find it impossible to reconcile the Catholic Church’s claim to moral authority with its catastrophic failure to protect children from abuse.
Catholicism is like the AFL: the Christian Brothers are one team within the competition, accountable to the governing body. Yet, men who professed Christ preyed on children, and the institution that should have stopped them too often failed to act.
For one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful religious institutions, this is more than hypocrisy – it is a profound moral failure. The abuse is repugnant. The betrayal of vulnerable children is unforgivable.
An institution that demands moral leadership must be judged not by its words, but by its actions.
Nadine McMaster, Port Melbourne
Force Allan’s exit
The Westminster system of ministerial accountability is awesome, until it is not.
The former minister in charge of the now absolute shambles of the Big Build is the only person with the power to call a royal commission into it, yet refuses to.
Time for her spineless state Labor colleagues to force her to call one, or do the right thing and dump her and do it themselves. This lifetime Labor voter is already looking elsewhere come November.
Greg Smith, Caulfield South
Housing, wages nexus
Millie Muroi (″Looks like I bought at the peak of the housing market, but that’s OK″, 5/7), in her well-balanced article addressing the manufactured panic about a minuscule reduction in the cost of housing, again states the key statistic that explains our current housing crisis. “In the 1970s, the average house cost about 4.5 times the average annual wage. An average house today is closer to 14 times the average annual wage.“
It has taken 50 years for this imbalance to occur, accelerated by Howard’s changes to capital gains tax along with negative gearing tax perks.
The Labor government has taken the first steps to restore a better balance between average wages and the cost of housing, but firstly, it will take decades to unwind the current dire nexus between wages and housing.
Secondly, ultimately, the only way this can occur is if increases in average real wages outpace increases in the cost of housing.
Graeme Henchel, Yarra Glen
Dave’s not funny
Yes, Mr Hughes (’Hughesy hates tax changes″, 4/7), you’d do well to steer clear of politics. Just as good comedians eventually learn that shouting the joke doesn’t make it funnier, real politicians don’t misinterpret a few laudatory replies to TikTok posts as them having “the guts to say what everybody’s thinking”. Keep digging the grave of your career, Dave.
Leon Burgher, Stony Creek
Property market ride
Having negative equity in your property has occurred a number of times over the past 100 years. I can recall a number of well-known families in the 1970s who had invested heavily in property, had their fingers burnt and nearly lost their farms.
When buying property you have to see it as a long-term investment. Quickly paying off the mortgage helps to protect you from the ups and downs in the market.
Rising interest rates, fighting in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as an erratic American president have made investing risky, as has changes to our tax system which used to strongly favour the wealthy investor over the first-time buyer.
Once the dust settles, I’m sure there will be opportunities for both the long-term investor as well as the first-time home buyer to invest in housing. Let’s hope so.
Paul Chivers, Box Hill North
China preference
Donald Trump parrots ″the communist menace″ (5/7) – the persistent, paranoid US anti-communist crusade. It has led to catastrophic wars in Korea and Vietnam, and interventions in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
It fostered the arms race and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and has been constantly at war. It has reduced domestic freedom, damaged global stability and reduced domestic openness. A handful of US oligarchs has unbelievable wealth, while many citizens struggle to put food on the table.
There is unlimited money for armaments and killing, but not enough to feed American children, provide affordable housing and healthcare.
Chinese human rights are limited, but while many Australians might think that the worst of America is better than communist regimes like China, some reassessment seems warranted as we consider initiatives like AUKUS.
China has lifted 800 million citizens out of poverty and its belt and road initiatives look benign compared with US international intervention. Its military expenditure is about one-third of the US defence – and , unlike the US, it seems to respect the UN and other multilateral organisations.
Norman Huon, Port Melbourne
Roads to ruin
Our recent road trip on the Hume was harrowing. The potholes on the Victorian side were so dangerous, I reduced the speed to 78km/h in the 110km/h zone with my hazard lights warning motorists behind.
Having experienced rear wheel damage months earlier that cost $2000, I decided I would do what I could to prevent this occurring again. Alas, around 15 cars along the highway had succumbed.
Our frequent drives to Canberra reveal a noticeable difference in the conditions of the Victorian and NSW section of the Hume; the latter far superior.
This is a major arterial road in Australia – which the federal government funds via allocation to the state governments, but what is VicRoads doing with its allocation?
Sally Davis, Malvern East
Chemicals are forever
When I was a research chemist with a large international chemical company, I quickly became aware of the number of chemicals we innocently, and often not so innocently, place into our personal, and the natural environment.
These can range from medicines to skin treatments, air fresheners, disinfectants, fuels, fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides. The list is very, very long.
It is impossible to know exactly how each chemical can impact on the human body’s incredibly complex biochemistry, including the driving systems controlled by our genes (“Worksafe cancer fail” and “Race to save Sasha”, 5/7). But any substance, including water, sugar and salt, has the capacity to alter the chemistry of the body.
Just as with major technological developments such as nuclear energy and AI, we are constantly in awe of the power and potential of these inventions, and the profits they can bring.
However, as rational and compassionate human beings we should also deeply, and constantly, question the balance between the benefits and hazards each can bring.
Howard Tankey, Box Hill North
Mrs Bennet rocks
I have always been a supporter of Mrs Bennet (″Poor Mrs Bennet: A woman who is universally misunderstood″, 5/7) and cannot understand why she has been so lampooned by the literary world.
Is it because the book has been “taught” by male academics who do not understand how disastrous the arrival of girl baby after girl baby would have been, as Mrs Bennet could see the impending destitution of yet another girl on the demise of their father?
Imagine knowing the death of your husband would leave you and your six daughters homeless and penniless?
Death was a frequent and untimely visitor in the days before modern medicine.
The joy of the arrival of another baby would certainly have been tempered by its gender.
Incidentally, the author of the essay is wrong to describe the Bennets as noble, they are simply upper class whose fortune can only go to a son, which is still the case for some British people, especially aristocrats, today.
Megan Peniston-Bird, Kew
AND ANOTHER THING
Big Build
I don’t care about what Dave Hughes thinks or who he is going to vote for in the state election. Enjoy your debt free millions, Dave, and let others not on financial steroids be angry.
John Ferella, Preston
Has Dave Hughes conveniently forgotten John Howard’s promise to never introduce a GST in 1995 just prior to the 1996 election. He won the next election in 1998 and introduced a GST in 2000.
Ross Barker, Lakes Entrance
In 2014, NSW premier Barry O’Farrell resigned over a $3000 bottle of wine. How is it that Victoria’s premier remains?
Maree Harrison, Nerrina
With apologies to Ronald Reagan; Ms Allen, get our stolen money back.
Anthony Palmer, Southbank
Jacinta’s past denials that there is no proof of corruption in the Big Build Projects has been a gift to the culprits, giving them plenty of time to hide the evidence.
Graeme Daniels, Balwyn North
Furthermore
It is against the law in Australia to deliberately divest yourself of assets in order to avoid a liability. Surely, this power will be used against the “Christian” brothers who transferred assets to a separate legal entity. If not, why not?
Judy Kevill, Ringwood
I have long been an admirer of David Pocock (Good Weekend, 4/7). The recent Age article has more than confirmed my views. Rather than ″someone who seeks to promote grievance″, he stands up for fairness, tolerance and accountability and is not swayed by lobbyists and powerful industry groups. Instead of criticising him, Albanese could well take a leaf out of his book.
Rita Thorpe, Coburg
Pauline Hanson will not solve the shortage of doctors (or dentists or pharmacists) in rural areas, she will make it worse. Look at the names of the few dentists working in the regions – there are more Dr Singhs than Dr Smiths. Rural communities need immigrants.
Elizabeth Long, Fawkner
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