Was it a Mills & Boon heart-warming tear-jerker? A profound piece of spiritual wisdom from a Palestinian goat-hearder's cave that touched the core of the white man's soul perhaps? Was it Shane Crawford's AFL autobiography that culminated in the fairytale Hawthorn 2008 premiership victory? No, it was this tragic informative news article read yesterday. It may have been passed over by many but not by this white man.In the financial year ending 30 June 2010, the Victorian government received almost $1.7 billion in gaming taxes and other related fees. Yet it should be noted, as the state premier Mr John Brumby certainly made a point of highlighting, that this incoming revenue is $0.02 billion down on last year's annual intake. Because according to Mr Brumby, the decreased intake in 2010 is all due to the fact that "...we've been doing the right things as a Government." That's right! Doing the right thing equates to a decrease of little over 1% and the Victorian state government still has the audacity to maintain it's predictably trotted-out line that it is not gambling dependant. The total state budget is approximately $34 billion of which $1.7 billion comes from gaming revenue. Well by my poor maths that is 5% of the state's total incoming budget. Now as a pastor I know that churches are well and truly dependant on it's members regular 10% tithe and even if you halved the tithe the church would still need every cent of that 5% to keep going. So are you going to insult thinking Victorian's intelligence Mr Brumby by insisting that our state is not dependant on gaming? Would you willingly write off that 5% income without a even the merest twitch of nervousness? Would you still have your job next week Mr Brumby if you did that?
"...we've been doing the right things as a Government..."
This white man's church sits fairly and squarely right in the heart of the municipality of Maribyrnong. It is a fact that the city of Maribyrnong has the highest electronic gaming machine (EGM) density of all the suburban regions in metropolitan Melbourne outside of the inner-city of Melbourne. The city of Maribyrnong also has the highest expenditure on gaming per adult in it's municipality. Unsurprisingly, unemployment is extreme and relative income per adult in the community rates as one of the lowest in Victoria. And whilst it is true that the local council have taken measures in recent years to lessen their pokie venues and numbers of machines in venues, the disproportionate statistics still remain. Surely it stands to reason that if we have legalised gambling in Victoria then at the very least we would want to be seeing more revenue returning back into relevant problem-gambling services in the community. Do we believe it is a just outcome when such a disproportionate amount of this money goes straight back into the pockets of the already overly wealthy gambling industry?
Come on Brumby, get your numbers right. If the gaming industry pay you half a tithe of your total revenue then at least offer back a more acceptable amount to the services and people whose misery is filling your already-bulging coffers. You can't have it both ways - otherwise we Victorians might all start to believe that you are religiously wringing our pockets dry and treating us as fools in the process. Honestly, it's enough to make a grown white man cry...
Have you really "been doing ALL the right things as a government?"
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