Real people are suffering

Andrew Wilkie
LAST week’s announcement by the Tasmanian Government that there’ll be no reduction in the number of poker machines – Mate of the workers, Michael Aird, loves his pokies – warrants much more attention than it received at the time.

Tasmania has one of the highest numbers of poker machines per capita in Australia. By one estimate, the number of ‘problem gamblers’ in the state is at least 5,000 with thousands more at serious risk of becoming so. Add to these figures the five to ten people thought to be adversely affected by each person with a gambling problem and the total number of Tasmanians suffering from pokies swells into the tens of thousands.

And all this in the poorest state in Australia where poker machine addicts simply can’t afford to waste any money, let alone the extraordinary amounts many of them tip into the machines each week. So too the broader community can ill afford to pay the substantial bills for the social consequences of pokies such as financial ruin, depression, domestic violence and family break-down.

This is no small matter. Real people are suffering and suffering badly. The most vulnerable communities, where the machines are concentrated, are hurting the most. This is one of the most pressing social problems facing Tasmania today. The best gift Premier Bartlett could give the Tasmanian community this Christmas would be an ironclad promise to reduce the number of poker machines in the state.