Defending the indefensible
It is fairly predictable, considering the Herald Sun’s dominance in the tabloid market, that there have been a number of opinion page letter writers and commentators who have leapt to the defence of its infamous mouthpiece, Andrew Bolt, after Justice Mordechai Bromberg ruled that he (and his publisher) had breached the Racial Discrimination Act, in publishing offensive and false
material pertaining to nine high-profile Aboriginal activists and academics.
Bolt’s defenders, al-armingly, reportedly among them, Shadow Attorney General George Brandis, lament a perceived attack upon “free speech” and characterise Bolt as some kind of champion of the truth.
In actual fact, it is not free speech which has been attacked by the Federal Court ruling, rather, it is Bolt’s lazy journalism and ignorance and arrogance which has been revealed in all of its unedifying glory.
Bolt has often brought journalism into disrepute by dressing up his often odious opinions as legitimate and earnest journalisitic inquiry.
Justice Bromberg’s judgement goes some way towards rebalancing the ledger, as well as delivering justice and vindication to those whom Bolt has publicly and repeatedly vilified on racial grounds.
It is disappointing that the Herald Sun, as a major newspaper, should continue to attempt to defend the indefensible, and to display such abject recalcitrance and contempt for the judge’s decision with its misleading and disingenuous attack on free-speech headlines.
Yet more evidence of the dangers of out-of-control media ownership concentration, perhaps?
Michelle Goldsmith,
Eaglehawk
Pokie tragedy
There has been much debate recently about the Federal Government’s reforms to reduce problem gambling on poker machines and it’s timely to explain again how these reforms will work.
For a start they’re not a thought bubble from me. They’re lifted straight from the Productivity Commission, an independent and trusted body which has studied the issue for years and recommended this solution.
Under the reforms, mandatory pre-commitment will be fitted to high-intensity poker machines with bets of more than $1.
This simply means people playing these pokies set limits on their losses with a card before they start gambling.
The limit is their choice and many are already carrying loyalty cards similar to pre-commitment cards.
But most poker machine players won’t notice a difference and won’t need a card.
Low-intensity poker machines will be rolled out with a $1 maximum bet. These machines won’t be fitted with mandatory pre-commitment. So the 88 per cent of Australians who gamble $1 or less a spin can play these machines just as they do now, without a card.
The Federal Parliament will pass the necessary laws by May next year and poker machine venues will have until the end of 2014 to comply. Small venues with 15 machines or less, about 40 per cent of pokie venues, will get until 2018.
It is estimated 95,000 Australians have a problem with pokies and each problem gambler affects between five and 10 people.
They lose a staggering $5b each year on the pokies.
They also routinely lose their jobs, family and friends, homes, minds and sometimes even their lives.
Most of us know somebody who has been touched by the terrible human misery the pokies can cause and I think virtually all Australians agree that something has to be done.
It’s time we did something. Like seatbelts reduced the road toll, mandatory pre-commitment will save lives.
Andrew Wilkie,
Independent Member for Denison
Paying the rent
Negative gearing is usually justified on the basis of being an effective means for supplying rental accommodation.
However, the availability of rental stock for those on a low income is in critically short supply.
A way of overcoming this problem is to associate negative gearing with the rent subsidy received through Centrelink by those on a low income.
This can be readily administered through the connection between the Centrelink and the Tax Office computers.
Properties on which a rent subsidy applies can be matched with those on which negative gearing is claimed.
There could be a differential rate for negative gearing so that the owners of low- cost rental housing would receive the greatest benefit. It could also be structured so that the overall cost to the government would not change.
Stephen Mooney,
Bendigo
Play it safe
Some years ago, the City of Greater Bendigo erected fences all along the creek in Rosalind Park.
Over the years, while out walking around Lake Weeroona, I’ve noticed children playing dangerously close to the creek without supervision of adults.
I was wondering if council would place safety fences along the creek at Lake Weeroona as well.
Jennifer J Mitchell-Sharp,
North Bendigo.
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