Health
To the children and families …
To the children and families and friends and loved ones of the still addicted people on poker machines,
I am sorry that the people we elected into power care so little for your situation. To placate you they offered up legislation(the voluntary pre-commitment system) that requires the gambler themself to admit their problem and participate in a program that is supposed to curtail their losses.
These powers that be refuse to hear you when you say that system will not work. They continue to argue dynamically over your situation forgetting that you are at the heart of it. I feel bad that you saw a glimmer of hope of real change only to have those same powers reneg and water it all down. I feel sick to my stomach that you cannot be heard because of the cloth ears the government wears with regard to this issue.
I do know how hard it is to make your dilemma public and respect and defend your position. I do believe that there is one of you out there trying to muster the courage to come forward and play a very big part in “real” change and would encourage that person to not let go of the idea-there will be somebody from our side to catch you when you take that leap of faith.
I know the heartache that you go through because in my rehabilitation i was able to see what i had done to my own family and friends and it is a situation that tears and rips the otherwise peaceful fabric of a happy unit apart.
I totally admire that most of you are running on a reserve of hope that is so thin you dare not speak too loudly about it lest it crack.
I feel your anguish and rage.
You cannot afford to break down and scream and cry and punch because you have others to look after despite the relief you might get from doing that.
I urge you all to draw upon whatever strength you can and hang in just a bit longer because there is reason to hope and to receive the fruit of your hopes. There are a lot of people fighting for you and they know that you have placed the fight in their hands because you do not want to harm your loved one by “outing” them. There will be a core element that will by whatever means necessary continue to raise this issue whenever the opposition squash it down.
It is the politicians who should be bleeding over this situation.
It is totally unjust and unacceptable that there are people in our society suffering these losses. Those people deserve to be defended. It is now OUR responsibility to help them in a true way.
It is Tuesday the 6th November, 2012. It is Melbourne cup day. It is the $100million lotto tonight and as usual, yet another $30m plus has entered the system through poker machines on this day.
The problem did not start with that loved one putting their first coin in a poker machine.
It started when the licensees were granted the power to place them in all the communites.
It started with the foreknowledge that many people would become mesmerised by the machines and enter a place of addiction. The manufacturers employed psychologists to ensure that.
Somewhere along the way the catchcry became, “Build a better mousetrap”
Somewhere along the way this PT Barnum thing got a lot more premeditated and malevolent and the victims are not the ones putting the money in to “see the show”.
I know I’m not deluded when I assume that the silent victims are so wanting to scream out stop. Get rid of them. Whilever they can’t, we will.
Somewhere along the way this became grist for the mill in certain state governments over time.
This problem continued when the federal government reneged on it’s deal with Andrew Wilkie.
This problem continues every single day and so many innocent people are getting hurt because of a failure to act and especially having the power to act and not.
This problem continues……
This problem stops with me as an individual and it stops with you as an individual should you choose to act.
When this problem stops these innocent people will cheer.
This problem stops where it started-at every power point attached to every machine.
• Simon de Little: Watch the TasCOSS & Anglicare Gambling Forum 16/10/12
Although poker machine reform has receded from public view in the wake of the Federal Government compromise of May 2012, the needs of people with gambling problems have not gone away.
TasCOSS and Anglicare conducted a forum to learn more about and discuss the impact of gambling problems on low-income and disadvantaged Tasmanians.
Presenters Tony Reidy, TasCOSS
Greg James, former publican and head of Australian Hotels Association
Mara Lovrin, Anglicare Tasmania, Gamblers Help counsellor/community educator
Karyn Wagner, community advocate
Margie Law, Social Action Research, Centre, Anglicare
• Simon de Little, Pat Caplice: Cut down the Triffid