dane wrote:
Blueboy_Dan wrote:
Once again blame everything but the people who become addicted to pokies.....
![thumbs up :thumbsup:](./images/smilies/thumbsup.gif)
Having a black & white viewpoint on this is dangerously simplistic.
Obviously it's a complex issue, and blame (or perhaps responsibility is a better term) can be apportioned across all groups:
Governments have to take much of the blame for allowing pokie numbers to escalate so rapidly.
Owners of machines have to accept that in the chase for profits, they are actually preying on the most vulnerable members of society.
And gamblers should exercise greater self-control, and take more responsibility for their own actions. But not so easy when you are emotionally vulnerable and presented with a 'leisure' activity that is at once very addictive and very harmful.
For me, this is a classic example of what happens when you get a failure of genuine leadership at a Government level. These people are elected to create sensible policy that serves the greater good... and in the State of Victoria, successive Governments from Kirner to Kennett to Bracks to Brumby have failed to do so in this instance.
Either through a lack of understanding, a lack of will, actual malicious intent or sheer incompetence they've allowed pokies to gain a very large hold over the State finances, over our pub culture, and over the lives of the economically vulnerable.
You can't expect Carlton Football Club or Woolworths or the guy who owns the pub to willingly give up an easy profit stream that is perfectly legal: that's why we have Governments, who can enact policies, and regulate these things for the good of all - businesses, individuals and the Government coffers.
It's a failure of Governance, pure and simple.Well as I said above the current federal government together with 2 independents ARE about to DO SOMETHING by putting forward new legislation so let's show some initiative and get on the front foot and
as an organisation, that while profiting from pokies, we do it with a sense of social responsibility and support it.