Free lifts to gamble in Cabramatta

PM - Thursday, August  29, 2002 18:30

MARK COLVIN: The Vietnamese population of Sydney's south-west, appears to have a remarkable choice to free transport lately.

There are courtesy bus services galore for the south-east Asian community, especially in the suburb of Cabramatta.

But there is a catch. All the shuttle busses go to gambling venues.

In the latest edition, from next Saturday, Casino Canberra will offer a new service to take local residents on a three-hour trip to the ACT, to spend their money interstate.

John Stewart reports.

JOHN STEWART: Australia may be a big country, with big transport challenges, but not if you live in Cabramatta and you want to get to a casino, a club or a pub.

Cabramatta residents can already catch a shuttle service to Star City Casino, and a range of clubs and pubs with gambling facilities.

But now Casino Canberra has advertised in the local Vietnamese community newspaper, offering a weekend trip to Canberra for just $60 per person.

But, there's a catch.

You've got to spend $1,000 at the casino.

Thang Ngo is a councillor with Fairfield City Council. He says the latest shuttle service is more evidence that the casino and other gambling businesses are specifically targeting the local Vietnamese community.

THANG NGO: I think this whole fiasco is a sad reflection on the casino community and the gambling community as a whole.

We have all of Australia that Canberra Casino could choose to target, yet they choose to start a shuttle bus service, a weekly shuttle bus service, from Cabramatta to Canberra.

They've got the whole of Australia to, as their oyster as it were, yet they specifically choose Cabramatta.

JOHN STEWART: Do you believe that Casino Canberra is targeting the Asian community generally around Cabramatta, or the Vietnamese community in particular?

THANG NGO: I have no doubt that Casino Canberra is targeting Vietnamese people who live in Cabramatta.

JOHN STEWART: What do you say to the argument that it's not illegal, that if people want to gamble they can, and that the casinos are not doing anything that's actually against the law?

THANG NGO: The Casino has to realise that when they target certain demographics, certain ethnic groups, they need to go into it with their eyes open.

The Vietnamese community is one of the poorest ethnic communities in Australia. The Vietnamese community is full of people who are not very good with English, and because of that, they don't have many other choice in terms of entertainment.

JOHN STEWART: Dr Than Nguyen is president of the New South Wales Chapter of the Australian-Vietnamese community. He believes the shuttle buses are targeting specific ethnic communities.

DR THAN NGUYEN: They try to facilitate the gambling habits of people by providing easy transport and cheap accommodation, etc, and I don't agree with that kind of tactic and I think the Government should take some action to prevent those kinds of luring tactics.

JOHN STEWART: According to the soundtrack on the Casino Canberra website, gambling is a lot of fun and a great place to meet friends.

For many years, Canberra has been synonymous with heroin and crime. Recent attempts to clean it up appear to be working.

But gambling remains a deeply entrenched problem.

Casino Canberra was not available for comment, however a spokesman for Star City Casino said, that Sydney's Asian communities remain a strong part of the casino market.

MARK COLVIN: John Stewart was our reporter there.