Category: NSW politics


Alcohol sale reform in NSW

Filed under: alcohol, NSW politics — Leave a comment
November 20, 2011

The NSW Government may be fast asleep when it comes to gambling reform, and Premier Barry O’Farrell has in the past resisted moves to curb excessive alcohol consumption.

But many in our community will welcome a new bill, introduced by the government, to encourage the responsible sale of alcohol by establishing a three-strikes disciplinary system for licenced venues where there have been multiple breaches of the Liquor Act.

The bill targets “rogue” licensees and licenced venues that are repeatedly linked with violent behaviour or refuse to respect existing laws.  Liquor licences can be revoked or suspended, or conditions may be placed on a liquor license, which would have a direct impact on the viability of the store or venue.

Alcohol is a popular drug that is easily accessed and easily misused.  It is responsible for street violence, family violence, health problems and poverty.  The O’Farrell Government is to be commended for this small positive step toward harm minimisation.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 20 November 2011.

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Proposed changes to retail trading hours

Filed under: employment, leisure, NSW politics — Leave a comment
November 11, 2011

The NSW government is considering changing the law governing shop trading hours to allow retail outlets to open on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

With Anzac Day trading currently allowed from 1pm, there are just four-and-a-half days a year with restricted trading provisions – and a change in the law would have profound implications for our community.

Christmas and Easter would be treated just like any other day.  Many retail employees, small businesses and other sections of the NSW workforce would lose access to a collective shut down period, meaning they will not be able to spend quality time with their families.  And it will make life difficult for many Christians who attend special church services on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

While some may welcome the chance to shop and spend more, we really don’t need this.  Special public holidays should be for family, not for profit.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 13 November 2011.

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Fresh call to scrap ethics classes

Filed under: education, ethics, NSW Council of Churches, NSW politics — Leave a comment
July 29, 2011

The NSW government’s ethics classes are again in the news, with the Council of Churches urging Premier Barry O’Farrell to repeal the legislation that led to the establishment of ethics classes in NSW state schools.

The current arrangement was imposed by the Labor Party in the dying days of the Keneally Government, with Education Minister Verity Firth appearing to regard it as a personal crusade.

Last year, the Opposition, led by Mr O’Farrell, opposed the introduction of ethics classes, then promised that if elected it would move to ensure that the classes did not clash with Special Religious Education classes. Mr O’Farrell later reversed this policy, but made it clear to a gathering of church leaders in February, prior to the March 26 election, that the sole reason for this back flip was that he would not control the Upper House when elected to govern.

Council of Churches President Richard Quadrio has now made a fresh call to Mr O’Farrell to scrap the program.  But it would seem that the ethical horse has now bolted.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 31 July 2011.

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Gambling reform looks possible

Filed under: gambling, NSW politics — Leave a comment
June 3, 2011

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell

In September 2010 the federal government set up a Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform in response to the Productivity Commission’s report on gambling, in a bid to develop a national response to its recommendations.

The NSW Council of Churches, which last year endorsed all of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on gambling reform, has commended progress made by the Select Committee, which includes a commitment to investigate the regulation of online gambling, and matters relating to match fixing and gambling advertising.

The Council of Churches has urged bipartisan support for effective reforms, especially measures to make poker machines safer for all players, and has called on NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell to show moral leadership on the issue and help NSW families suffering from the effects of gambling addiction.

The fair and reasonable reforms, recommended more than a year ago by the Productivity Commission, appear to be blocked by businesses intent on exploiting people who gamble to excess, and by state governments (including the NSW government) in the pocket of the cashed-up gambling industry.

It is intolerable when valid warnings and criticisms by church groups are summarily dismissed by those with a vested interest in the continued growth of poker machine revenue.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 5 June 2011.

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States are addicted to pokies revenue

Filed under: gambling, NSW politics — Leave a comment
May 29, 2011

For many years, churches and a few other community groups have stood resolutely against the excesses of gambling, in the hope of easing or curtailing the damage done to children, families and communities when what is often called “a bit of fun” turns into an uncontrollable addiction.

For their efforts, the activists were called “wowsers” and “killjoys,” but they were convinced that justice and righteousness was on their side. The advent of poker machines, which turned virtual robbery into an extremely lucrative art form, made the calls for gambling reform all the more urgent.

And yet governments and businesses continue to turn a deaf ear to the problem, or offer band-aid solutions, appointing key activists to manage community benefit funds and employing political staffers to industry jobs, and raking in ever higher returns for state revenue, or for profit.

The most pitiful and destructive pokies addiction of all is the addiction of our state governments to poker machine revenue. The time has come for the federal government to take decisive action and offer moral leadership on pokies reform.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 1 May 2011.

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