A strong turnout

Much to think about, much more to do

The Summit was held on Friday 16 May, at the Green Valley District Centre (generously provided by Liverpool City Council) with more than 70 attendees present. Representatives of local Clubs and Club Industry groups sat side-by-side with social workers, members of the local community, State Government officials, politicians, and clergy, showing solidarity in their desire to tackle the very real difficulties faced by our area.

Clr Thang Ngo began by outlining the objectives we had set for the meeting:

• Highlight problem gambling as an issue in Sydney's West and
  stimulate community discussion
• Bring all key stakeholders together to discuss this issue
• Form a local working group to come up with local solutions and lobby
  respective local, state and federal policy makers

Aunty Cathleen Smailes welcomed all present to the event, acknowledging both the traditional inhabitants of the area and those who have come to this place to form our community. This set the scene for our speakers (John Storer, Dr John Haw, Rev Steve Frederick, Kate Roberts, and Echo Morgan) to present a range of information, from statistical analyses of gambling data from a number of studies, through an explanation of the psychology of the compulsion, to the experiences from our local area with the issue of problem gambling. 

Clr Thang Ngo, John Storer, Dr John Haw and Kate Roberts

Fr Chris Riley addressed the audience, and urged everyone to look broadly at issues across a range of social crises in the community. He suggested that there was shared responsibility for creating an environment of support and compassion in our society to address these ills.

Fr Riley then facilitated the open session for questions to the panel of presenters. All sides of the issue were brought into the open, and distinct points of view came through. It was widely agreed, however, that no group wants to see problem gambling, and the issue requires serious and active attention. 

The meeting closed with Bill Cashman asking for the commitment of attendees to follow-through with future workshops to explore ways of managing the problem so that we can achieve positive outcomes for everybody.

Bill Cashman closes the meeting

We believe that the objectives were achieved, and despite much of the focus falling on the prevalence of gaming machines, the Clubs representatives expressed great commitment to working collaboratively to find local solutions. Sincere thanks to all who attended and to our special guests and guest speakers.

You can download the various presentations from here:

• Thang Ngo's presentation - Opening the Summit
• John Storer's presentation - Gaming Machine use in NSW
• John Haw's presentation - Psychology of problem gambling
• Kate Robert's presentation - Problem Gambling impacts
• Rev Steve Frederick's presentation - Social Effects in the area
• Echo Morgan's presentation - Multicultural Problem Gambling

Volunteer to join in follow-up workshops!