Yes well. My heart bleeds for the rights of people who spend their food money on poker machines, and the rights of people to drink until they are drunk enough to behave badly and not remember, or did I miss the point here?

Yes, dorothy 42, you did miss the point. It is the right of government to get money from the poor fools who are stupid enough to pour money in those devices. That way they can cut taxes for the rich.

Richard Allsop, the author of the article, was Chief of Staff to the two Transport Ministers in the Kennett Government. The Kennett Government was exemplary in setting up venues for fools to piss away their money and encourage them to do so at the cost of their own and their families well-being. It is the right of sheep to be fleeced.

Well dot 42,
You certainly missed the point here.
Firstly you assume that all people that gamble, do so with their ‘tea money”
Next you assume that all people that drink too much behave badly, yet I will bet (pardon the language 0 that yo spend your dollar a week on a lotto ticket and I would assume you drink to be able to observe the nasty drunks their element or why would you have cause to make such statement/.
In fact I will bet that you’re the type that says if you don’t do anything wrong then you hasn’t got anything to worry about “when it comes to the police state we live in. And that the police are doing a great job in ozz.
The fact the article is about human rights, in that the tribunals of Australia are political weapons used by politicians.
That they use their subordinates to basically tread on little people like you, is what it’s about.
The fact that political groups so head up about gambling being the be all and end all of sin , in a world where police corruption kills more people than a poker machine ever did.
It’s about the political appointed judges that toe the political line even though their consciences say otherwise.
Until Australia removes these constitutionally dangerous tribunals we all betters quake in quake in our boots that the brown shirts don’t come in and arrest us during the night.

There is a lot of media hysteria about pokies. If we put one fifth of the energy in to finding solutions for heroin addicts or entrenched poverty in Aboriginal communities as we do about the 'pokies' we'd have those two problems licked.

Unfortunately heroin and Aboriginals aren't media sexy. Senator Xenophon knows this. That's why he won't advocate on the tough social justice issues such as gay rights, Aboriginal health, racism, etc. Why? No media and few votes.

dorothy42: "or did I miss the point here"

Yep, you did. Richard Allsop doesn't give a dam about the rights of the people that use the pokies. His heartfelt concern is for the Romsey pub.

What gives it away is Allsop's connection with the IPA. When it comes to the government vs business right to make money, the IPA will champion for the business every time. So they deny AGW, they say the government should get out of managing the Murray, and they want out National Parks to be sustainably managed by forestry industries.

You can read about the IPA (or indeed look up any organisation, right or left leaning) here: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_of_Public_Affairs

When will you people start replying to the content of the article and not the motivation of the write then you will be able to take off the mantle of a PhD in BS

Pubs are over anyways. I mean everything you would do in a pub subjects you to a tut tut from the judgemental far right religous nutcase bores.

I mean why protest what happens in a pub? Nobody forces anyone to go in one. People with small, shallow and spiteful lives probably. Nothing better to do than flit about preaching from their poision pulpits. Everything you can do there is slowly being legislated out of existence along with Aussie culture. Seems they may up family sizzler style restuarants..or maybe religous nut case headquarters ! Add a mineret lol, that is ok! The only human right left apparently hee hee

We have handed over adult responsbility to those that have learned about human behaviours from books. This is what qualifies people these days. Life experience not required as it is not expected many will actually have any!

Thomas from Tacoma.

I'd agree with Dorothy, (well not in those words, but the sentiment).

Though I ain't one of your "if you've done nothing wrong, there's nothing to worry about" types, when it comes to civil rights. Hell, I'm very noisy when it comes to defending civil rights.

I don't view taxes as an impingement on civil rights. I'll defend your right to play the pokies, just as I exercise my right to call it a stupid way to spend money. It's your money. By all means, spend it how you wish.

However, we need to tax stuff. That's how the government gets money. It's how we pay for all the modern necessities, such as roads, government spin-doctors and half-baked schemes to censor the internet.

Well, ok, it's not always wisely spent. But we do need to tax things, and when it comes to things that are detrimental to society, which you can qualitatively state when it comes to say, pokies, cigarettes and booze, well hell, I say tax the bejeezus out of them.

I like the odd drink, though I don't mind them being taxed. I also realise, that if you annoy too many people, your government will be thrown out.

So to summarise: your assumption about civil-rights and tax is half-arsed. I say, pick on the pokies all you want as long as you don't ban them altogether. Then it does indeed become a civil rights issue.

Good day to you.

"... no respect for the rights of those Australians who enjoy playing the pokies.."

yeah, well allsop may want to look more closely, to see how much "enjoyment" he actually witnesses. i also worry about legislating sensible behaviour, but allsop's article is dishonest sleaze.