Problem of problem gambling
BY KATHERINE FENECH
Fairfield Champion, 21 May 2008

Last Friday's South-West Sydney Problem Gambling Summit will be followed with a working group to ''set a target for reducing the incidence of problem gambling'', said Greens council candidate Bill Cashman .

The summit, organised by Fairfield Councillor Thang Ngo and Mr Cashman, brought together community members, counsellor and support organisations for gamblers and local club bosses to discuss problem gambling.

Mr Cashman said they would also invite Fairfield Council to join the working group.

''Anyone who's outside of the process stays part of the problem,'' he said.

''We'll continue to try to get them engaged and, hopefully, they'll come to the party.''

At the summit University of Western Sydney lecturer John Haw, who researches the psychology of gambling, said that the spending of disposable income on gambling doesn't necessarily indicate there is a problem in the area.

''If people in Fairfield like to spend their disposable income on gambling then there's nothing inherently wrong with that,'' he said.

''If the people of Fairfield were buying a CD and a book every week would we be calling for a reduction in books?''

The assistant pastor of St Barnabas' Fairfield and Bossley Park churches, Reverend Steven Frederick, suggested communities support local community groups so that they did not have to depend on money from clubs.

''Certainly any solution to the current problem doesn't lie in the hands of gaming establishments alone,'' he said.

Mounties boss Greg Pickering, who attended the summit along with representatives of Fairfield RSL and Panthers, said he was pleased with the discussion but thought it did not engage clubs.

''The presentations gave a very broad overview of the issue of problem gambling from a problem-gambling service-provider's perspective,'' he said.

''Unfortunately it didn't engage the industry that's best-placed to help with this. I was confused by the variety of data quoted by the speakers. If we all agree to deal with problem gambling, then service-providers and operators alike must agree what the measuring tools will be.''

He said Mounties would be involved in further discussions if invited.

Mr Cashman said he wants to engage the clubs.

''They acknowledged that we're proceeding down the right track and that there's more to be done,'' he said.

''We didn't establish clear agreed measurements, so that's the thing we're going to push for next. We're going to get everyone to agree with figures and then we're going to set targets with the clubs to try to get a reduction by achievable amounts over a period of time.''

Cr Ngo was optimistic that further meetings would be held to find practical solutions to problem gambling.