Month: June 2024

Gambling Scourge

On By More to the StoryIn Advocacy, research and reports

The headline figures are shocking enough. Australians spend more per capita on gambling than anywhere else in the world.  We also lose more per capita – an estimated $25 billion a year! Can you believe that?

I have a family member with a gambling addiction, and it is sad to see what this has done to him over the years and how isolated he has become. Addiction to gambling is no different to any other addiction be it drugs or alcohol. You just get hooked in so far you can’t escape. The statistics above are not those indicative of people having a fun flutter on the weekend or buying a lotto ticket.

A study of Coroner’s Court data found that gambling addiction had contributed to 184 suicides in Victoria over eight years, the vast majority involving men aged between 17 and 44.

Lenore Taylor in the Guardian has written several excellent articles on gambling addition and the role advertising plays. Surely the torrent of gambling advertising on TV screens and social media feeds is adding to this crisis. I, for one, am sick of the fact that I can’t watch my football team play without a bombardment of betting adds.   I fear it is becoming normalised for children and young people as they view sport on their screens. I have a friend who says her son can frequently quote the betting odds on a game just as much as he can quote his team’s selections.

A recent parliamentary report called for a phased comprehensive ban on all advertising on all media – broadcast and online, that leaves no room for circumvention because partial bans on advertising do not work. The report also found that Australians are intensely frustrated and annoyed by current levels of gambling advertising and are concerned about the harm caused, especially to young people.

Australia successfully banned tobacco advertising so I can’t see why this ban wouldn’t work –  except the gambling lobby, the media and sporting codes are very powerful and so far, have stopped any attempts to curb it.

This is something we all must advocate against for the sake of our young people and those already addicted.

Finding Freedom

On By More to the StoryIn Events, get involved, Global Trends, Human rights, Refugees in WA, research and reports

To coincide with Refugee Week this year, the United Nations has released its latest Global Trends Report. It’s not happy reading but it’s essential we all understand what’s happening in our world.

One in every 69 people, or 1.5 per cent of the entire world’s population, is now forcibly displaced. This is nearly double the 1 in 125 people who were displaced a decade ago.

At the end of 2023, an estimated 117.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing the public order. Based on operational data, UNHCR estimates that forced displacement has continued to increase in the first four months of 2024 and by the end of April 2024 is likely to have exceeded 120 million. 

It’s important for us to remember that behind every number is a person – and over half of them are children.

The increase to 117.3 million at the end of 2023 constitutes a rise of 8 per cent or 8.8 million people compared to the end of 2022. This continues a series of year-on-year increases that has lasted 12 years.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reminds us “that behind these stark and rising numbers lie countless human tragedies.” He says, “this suffering must galvanise the international community to act urgently to tackle the root causes of forced displacement.”

This year’s Refugee Week theme “Finding Freedom” – with a focus on family – encapsulates the profound journey of resilience, strength, and unity that defines the refugee experience. For most of us family is one of the most important things in our life. Families can provide love, support, safety and belonging. 

Many refugees are separated from their family, often for decades, sometimes forever.

You can read stories about families taking the journey, families left behind and families welcoming new arrivals, and find more information on the Refugee Week website.

It’s easy to get caught up in the 24-hour news cycle and only hear about one issue; but there are many more not making the news. Please donate to organisations like CARAD and Edmund Rice Centre WA.  Search out other organisations if you are located outside Western Australia. 

These organisations rely on public support to be able to continue to do their incredibly valuable work supporting refugees.