by Amy Butler
Many Christians will be disappointed with the stance taken by both the State ALP and Coalition on one of the most crippling issues facing many families.
Problem gambling continues to be a focus for many welfare agencies across the State with 2.1 per cent of the population suffering from moderate to severe gambling problems.
Yet both parties have signalled there will be no change to State Government’s reliance on gaming as a source of revenue, nor the current approach to addressing problem gambling in the community.
“More than $61 million has been spent by the Carr Government directly on addressing problem gambling,” said Bob Carr in an interview with Southern Cross. However this figure must measured against the 3.6 per cent of the Government’s total revenue coming from gambling. Advocacy groups have long criticised the Government for their reliance on revenue raised through gambling. They say it is a conflict of interest, which limits the Government’s ability to curb problem gambling.
Speaking in defence of his policies, Mr Carr said NSW has some of the toughest harm minimisation laws in the world such as the requirement that hotels and clubs warn of the remote chance of winning major prizes.
Opposition Leader, John Brogden, said his party had supported the introduction of initiatives to assist problem gamblers, but gave no indication that more would be done if a Coalition Government was elected.
Another important moral issue facing the NSW Government in its next term will be the State’s response to Federal legislation to ban human cloning but to allow research on live human embryos from the IVF program. Southern Cross asked both Mr Carr and Mr Brogden what they believed was the appropriate place for Christian belief in this debate.
Mr Brogden responded, saying he supported free speech. “I have always believed that every person can play a part, and should play a part in the ethical debates that shape our community.”
Mr Carr however, declined to comment directly but sent press clippings of opinion columns he contributed to The Sydney Morning Herald last year which offended some Christians by implying they are pro-suffering. In an article published on 27 June he says, “Some opponents of embryonic stem cell research seem to believe that humanity should suffer rather than draw on this research.
There is, from some of them a sense that suffering is inevitable. Inevitable, that is, because it is part of the human condition dictated by original sin. On the other hand, I and others feel a powerful impulse to relieve suffering in this world of space and time … Let the research go on.”
Mr Carr has also flagged support for human cloning for therapy, outlawed by the Federal legislation.
