GAMBLING PROFITS?
Dear editor,
Widespread support for restricting gambling advertising is often accompanied by an over-concern for problem gamblers.
As sad as their plight is, the issue is a much larger one costing Australians $32bn a year in losses while we bemoan the cost of living, a housing crisis, and a shortage of funds for essential infrastructure.
It is an inconvenient truth that we regard this as a shock and a sign of our times.
The problem is not new for Queenslanders. We led Australia in addressing it during WW1 when inflation was rampant, homelessness especially for war widows and their children was increasing, and governments were short of money for infrastructure as they struggled to meet military demands. The country faced an impending crisis with the return of physically and mentally damaged servicemen.
Over many objections, the Queensland Government turned to gambling to look after the diggers and their widows by running the Golden Casket from 1920.
The government’s lottery revenue stimulated the economy and provided a large inflow of funds to help those struggling with the impacts of the War and build hospitals.
Today, gambling dominated by foreign-owned corporations has become so embedded in our economy and society that free-to-air media, clubs, the tax system, and sports are entangled in the web. Cutting back gambling advertising could threaten the viability of those sectors.
If we looked overseas and saw a country where there was an outcry from its citizens struggling to survive the daily grind and found that they were the biggest gambling losers in the world we would be gobsmacked.
Embarrassingly, the inconvenient truth is that the country is us!
It calls for our governments, community leaders, and businesses to unite around dealing with the issue in a holistic way rather than as a mere aberration where action is restricted to finger-pointing and half-hearted political posturing.
We need the courage and foresight of our forebears to harness the funds from gambling to fund social and economic good rather than the pockets of wily entrepreneurs from the big end of town.
Garry Reynolds,
Peregian Springs.
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PREMIER MILES
Dear editor,
If you haven’t noticed already Steven Miles is a great politician. When speaking, the truth is all you will hear, alongside heartfelt emotion, determination towards optimism and an outlook of opportunity and positivity. When questioned on fraught issues like youth offending he will go to the crux of the matter. Youth crime has systemic causes. It requires a complex whole-of-system response – this is empirical truth. I don’t know about you but when a political leader says “They have been wanting to make public transport (basically free) since they were young” – my soul soars!
Premier Miles uses QLD’s mineral wealth to help everyday Queenslanders (which in turn enhances the overall economy). This is what mineral wealth is for! Mr Miles is an exhilarating leader. The ancestors of Rockhampton (birthplace of ALP) are glowing with pride.
Dylan White,
Coolum Beach.
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LABOR REPLY
Dear editor,
A letter in your September 11 edition (Labor Principles) is incorrect as it is founded in the past and certainly not applicable in these here and now times. In those early days when the general populace was ignorant and not so well educated like today, those poor Labor people were kept under the thumb by hard-nosed bosses and mismanaged unions.
If egalitarianism allows everyone to be equal and try to be better themselves to create wealth and posterity for themselves and their families, then so be it! What Labor doesn’t understand is that productivity is an essential part of the mix for self-betterment and this talk of neoliberalism is strictly not right.
John Bennion,
Peregian Springs.
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DV LAWS
Dear editor,
Coercive control is an insidious tactic to undermine the confidence and security of victims. It’s not necessarily predominately physical abuse but plays with the minds and emotions of targets. “Domestic terrorists”, as they should be called, due to the mind games they play on their victims, gradually take hold over a period of time. This leaves no doubt who is in control.
Relationships which stand the test of time, are based on mutual respect, empathy, equality, consideration and teamwork, not a dictatorship. However, coercive control, not always obvious, experienced mainly in a code of silence, but not in a vacuum, is abuse; a manipulative process where the victim is groomed over time by to accept the abuse as part and parcel of the relationship, by desensitising them to any resistance.
It is “how it is”; the victims learn to accept and not to “make waves” and upset the abuser. It includes all members of a relationship, where one “calls the tune” to which they all dance. Children learn what they live. Their role model is the abuser, so they fall into line to make life bearable without repercussions. This has generational repercussions for families where the tension is palpable. The controller makes the rules of interactions, and no one dares to resist.
Governments are now making changes to the laws of D.V., hoping to eliminate the costly fallout. Over decades and centuries, too many victims are mentally destroyed or die, while the laws attempt to address and prevent the costly destruction of relationships. Money alone cannot stop these domestic terrorists and what they do to undermine relationships. A cultural change in attitudes towards respect, entitlement, violence, equality of the sexes and the harmful role of alcohol and drugs, requires early education.
E. Rowe,
Marcoola.
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WAR MEDALS
Dear editor,
The decision to strip medals from commanders who oversaw troops accused of war crimes in Afghanistan is another example of Government hypocrisy and total disrespect for those who defend our country.
Let’s talk war crimes and incompetence, the Australian Government sent our Defence Personnel to an illegal invasion of Iraq to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. The country then descended into a civil war with estimates of war-related deaths at 461,000.
And they wonder why nobody wants to join defence.
Doug Alford,
Mount Coolum.
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DEMENTIA ACTION WEEK
Dear editor,
Thank you to everyone who took action to create a more dementia-friendly future during the 2024 Dementia Action Week from 16-22 September.
Across Australia, individuals and organisations supported our campaign to ‘Act Now for a Dementia-Friendly Future’ encouraging everyone to take simple actions to challenge the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with dementia.
This follows research released by Dementia Australia for Dementia Action Week which found there has been a decade of persistent poor understanding of dementia among Australians leading to stigma and discrimination.
On behalf of the estimated more than 421,000 people living with dementia in Australia and the more than 1.6 million people involved in their care, we thank everyone for their support.
While Dementia Action Week is only one week each year, the conversation and action to eliminate discrimination continues year-round. For information and tips on how you can continue working towards a dementia-friendly future, please visit dementia.org.au/DementiaActionWeek.
For support any time, please contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Merran Kelsall AO,
Chair Dementia Australia.
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