Politics
Pokies outstrip health budget, 14,000 hit hardship
Sunday, November 5:
TASMANIAN gamblers have put more money through poker machines in the past financial year than the total budget for the state Health Department, says the Tasmanian Council of Social Service.
TasCOSS chief executive officer Mat Rowell said the Tasmanian Gaming Commission’s Annual Report for 2004-05 showed gaming activity was up 5 per cent on the previous year, with $2.18 billion going through pokies.
“This rate of growth in gambling activity cannot be sustained without it having widespread social and economic consequences through the whole community,” Mr Rowell said.
He said because the Productivity Commission estimated 33 per cent of gaming revenue was generated by people with gambling problems, the financial implications for Tasmanian gambling addicts would be extreme.
Read more:
HERE
And, THE MERCURY, Tuesday:
BAD teeth, skipped meals, missed doctors’ appointments and a cold house are among the signs of struggling communities, a Tasmanian hardship survey shows.
A call for the State Government to set up a food security project was just one recommendation from the Anglicare survey of 2106 Tasmanians, which was released yesterday.
The first such poll since 1998, it found about 4 per cent of Tasmanians — that’s one in 25 or 14,000 adults — had experienced serious hardship.
In the year up to being surveyed, 4 per cent had gone without meals, sacrificed home heating, sought help from a community organisations or been unable to pay their rent. About 37 per cent of those surveyed relied on welfare payments.
More than one in four, or 28 per cent, had not been to the dentist in five years, and 11 per cent hadn’t been in a year because they couldn’t afford it.
Single parents and people with health-care cards were worst-off, said researcher Kelly Madden.
Read more:
HERE
Earlier:
Big End of Town: Doing nicely, mate
Vicious, self-righteous HAGNOTE: Mmmm. A Premier who is an avowed Catholic. A Deputy Premier who is a practising Anglican. Gambling, racing doing splendidly, special Big End of Town mates looked after. What would the Old Testament Prophets say …
THE HAG