Great range of opinions aired
THE POKIES
I APPLAUD you for the Talking Point articles on pokies by both sides of the debate ( Mercury, February 23).
Dr Hanna of the Federal Group makes superficial arguments for keeping the pokies. His main point for keeping pokies in clubs is loss of $50 million to government revenue.
Hobart City Mission’s John Stubley exposes the myth about jobs by stating “eight times as many Tasmanians are so-called problem gamblers than are employed due to poker machines in pubs and clubs”.
I agree with TasCoss’s Jo Flanagan that this election is a David and Goliath battle. The heavyweight pokies industry is pouring money into the campaign.
Let’s hope that ordinary people will win. We could be a leader in Australia in getting rid of this scourge.
I have witnessed two hung parliaments. On the first occasion, there was absolutely no work in Tasmania for years. I was responsible for taking 26 tradesman to Sydney. Only seven returned. Securing work in Sydney came easy. Our major selling point being our tradesman had greater skills than their Sydney counterparts.
Under the Hodgman Government, Tasmania has never been in better shape. The economy is booming and work has never been so plentiful. I’m not concerned about pokies. If people want to play pokies, so be it. I hope common sense prevails.
Destructive
I’VE long known poker machines were socially destructive, wrecking lives and families, and leading to suicides, but I hadn’t appreciated how destructive they could be to democracy. I am appalled at how the gambling industry is buying the election.
Told what to do
I’M not a gambler, see no sense in it, but for those that do, it is legal. Who are those to tell people what they can and can’t do?
Changes
JOHN Blacklow (Talking Point, Mercury February 26) makes sense in the political arena encompassing banning pokies from pubs and clubs. But the hospitality industry has undergone enormous changes A new way to have your say themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website. over the decades. In the 1970s, and prior to that, one presented at the pub or club (minus any gambling apart from $1 or $3 on a game of eight-ball or darts) after a game of footy or whatever. We now live in a different world and must accept social change. There are many pubs and clubs devoid of gaming facilities, which provide great meals and camaraderie, but at the end of the day “the individual should always have a choice”.
Imagine
IMAGINE if the money the pro-pokies lobby have been throwing at the Liberal campaign was instead donated to welfare programs that have been slashed by this greedy, secretive Liberal government over the past four years.
Truth and lies
ABOUT 5000 jobs will be at risk if poker machines are taken from pubs and clubs, say the gaming industry, hotel and club organisations and the Liberal Party. But there are only 370 full-time equivalent Tasmanian jobs directly dependant on the pokies. This calculation is based on a report released by the Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance in December 2017. One authors is Saul Eslake.
Why should I not conclude I am being lied to by those promoting poker machines and, by association, the Liberals?
Keep roads open
I AGREE with reader Pamela Morey (Letters, February 22). Not only does closure of the route around the waterfront add to the traffic chaos, but I doubt it adds significantly to the safety of cruise ship passengers. Passengers fail to differentiate between streets closed to traffic and those that are not. Once out of the safe zone, you see them walking on roads, ignoring traffic signals and indulging in other dangerous behaviour. Keep the roads open.
Irony
THE cartoon on gun laws featuring a discussion between Uncle Sam and a kangaroo ( Mercury, February 20) is sadly ironic given the millions of macropods killed throughout Australia by people wielding guns.
Creative Christianity
ARCHBISHOP Julian Porteous’s Talking Point article ( Mercury, February 21) is worth thinking about. He could also have mentioned the beautiful paintings, architecture and music created by Christians.
Minority report
GO, go, go minority government, easily the purest form of democracy, where decisions are made transparently on the floor of the house, not behind closed doors where vested interests call the shots with their large hidden financial donations. Its not democracy when a party with 51 per cent of the vote can make 100 per cent of the decisions.