Labor's procrastination over Gambling.

The article in last week's "The Saturday Paper" titled "Labor's partial gamble"is just another example of how we ,the people, cannot trust our politicians. The enquiry chaired by the late labor backbencher Peta Murphy and tabled in June last year, was inescapable in its finding and reinforced by her comment "The torrent of advertising is inescapable. It is manipulating an impressionable and vulnerable audience to gambling online." Murphy, touted by the Prime Minister as a future cabinet minister and whose legacy he praised, had only recently passed away, infected with cancer.

Simply put gambling is an Australian sickness. While there is always an urge to gamble in world societies, Australia appears to be among the top. Probably, within weeks of arrival in Australia , members of the first fleet would have succumbed to bets on horse racing. In this day and age, horse racing is possibly still the most welcome and acceptable, form of gambling. The trouble is that the political parties that since

Federation, have formed our governments, very early on embraced the habit and in fact encouraged it. It was seen as an easy way to raise taxes. Unfortunately the politicians individually and in their parties, also realised that funding from so-called donations and vested interests, was an excellent way to increase their incomes.

While the current issue is rampant advertising in all forms, the national economy, under the auspices of our political parties is proving far too reliant upon gambling per se. It is almost impossible to halt this reliance on gambling; but to halt it, we must.

Since the Second World War, the parties have in fact fostered the growth of the more insidious forms of gambling such as poker/gambling machines followed by the more recent Casino's and their association with money laundering etc.

Andrew Wilkie the Tasmanian independent MP should be eulogised for his long fight on these issues.

www.movementforbettergovernment.com.au