WHILE the club and pub industry bleats that proposed pokie laws are somehow “un-Australian” without defining the term, there’s no doubt they’d be “un-Goulburn.”
Imagine the place if there were no clubs – not beyond the realms of possibility if legislation to make pokie players sign up to a mandatory pre-commitment card emerges from Federal parliament.
A chilling spectre that owes nothing to Goulburn winters, but everything to the city’s four clubs drastically curtailing their operations, or, worst case medium-term, pulling the plug entirely because they couldn’t pay their way.
Then Goulburn wouldn’t be the same any more, having been “unned” by Canberra by default.
Hopefully, such a debacle never comes to pass, but for smaller one-club communities it’s a real possibility. Thus, it’s instructive to ignore the overworked and underwhelming “un- Australian” spiel being pumped out by club-pub-pokie industry PR and advertising flacks, and sit down with Goulburn’s biggest two club bosses for a more realistic take on the issue.
Unsurprisingly, both are scathing of Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie’s unveiled threat to bring down the Gillard government if his draconian pokie legislation is not adopted.
Toni Mitchell, general manager of the Soldiers Club and Clubs NSW regional councillor, and Brett Gorham, the new Workers Club CEO, accept that a relatively few people are certainly qualified to be branded Problem Gamblers.
“But if there were no pokies, they’d still have a gambling problem,” Mr Gorham said.
“Online gaming is a very insidious form of gambling from home at any hour of the day. And what’s to stop them punting with the TAB or bookies?
“There simply hasn’t been a proper large-scale study of poker machine gambling problems, except for a small and discredited Norwegian attempt that’s being used here in Australia. “It seems to me the aim here is to get rid of pokies entirely, which would have disastrous consequences - far greater than the incidence of problem gambling.”
“The club (and pub) industry does have in place a lot of services to help these people. They can tell trained club staff they are battling a problem and need help, but it isn’t a mandatory thing: people can’t go around with a sign on their back saying “I’ve got a gambling problem.”
Ms Michell said the Soldiers Club has had eight people take up the option of self-exclusion from playing pokies.
“We’d be very happy to have gambling counsellors set up on the premises with private rooms where people who feel they need help can get it,” she said.
“It isn’t just the gambler who needs or asks for help – it’s also his or her family. They occasionally come to us and say, ‘Dad (or Mum) needs help for a gambling habit that’s getting worse.’ Our staff are trained to help, but the person with the problem has to be willing to accept it.”
So-branded Problem Gamblers aside, the real scary problem for Goulburn and other places where clubs play a major role in worthwhile community affairs, is the prospect of club revenues and largesse collapsing.
For the full story, a related comment, the related editorial and statistics on Goulburn’s four clubs, please see the print edition of Friday’s Goulburn Post.
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