Wilkie is right

Denison MHR Andrew Wilkie is spot on in selecting problem ‘pokie’ gambling and the redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital as key issues for his attention.

Professor (sociology) Richard Wilkinson and Dr Kate Pickett have published an important book called ‘The Spirit Level’ (2010) which explains just why these particular issues are critical to address if we want a successful, less stressful and violent society.

Wilkinson and Pickett studied data from the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, and the US Census Bureau which allowed indicators of societal success, or failure, to be correlated with measures of economic inequality.

Several issues were looked at: mental and physical health, drug abuse, obesity, education, imprisonment, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage births and child health. In every case they found that the rates of these problems were anything from 2 to 20 times greater in countries, and states of the USA, with greater income differences between the richest and the poorest citizens.

Economically disadvantaged people are over-represented in problem gambling statistics, problem gambling creates much poverty and wealth for very few. The economically disadvantaged are the people who can benefit the most from an excellent, and appropriately funded, public hospital system.

Eradicating problem gambling and providing good access to quality health care are fundamentally egalitarian activities.

One of the most interesting findings of Wilkinson and Pickett’s studies was that the whole of society, not just poorer people, benefits from greater equality and suffers from less equality.