If you watch TV, listen to the radio, use a digital device or attend sporting matches in various codes, you are subjected to a constant stream of gambling ads. So are your children.
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Research shows that excessive promotion has led to the 'normalisation' of gambling as a part of sport, with disturbing consequences.
Children are growing up to believe that sport is a gambling product, that the value of sport is measured by the odds, and that betting on sport is a rite of passage into adulthood.
In partnership with 700-plus professional and community sports clubs in a range of codes across the state, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation is fighting against these trends.
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May is 'Love the Game' month, and this year we're encouraging parents, teachers, coaches and other role models to participate in activities that demonstrate to young ones that sport and betting don't have to go together.
Love the Game Challenge activities include turning off your phone during live matches, finding ways to talk about sport that don't refer to the odds and deleting betting apps from your phone.
Visit lovethegame.vic.gov.au for more information and join our partner clubs, including Victoria's 10 AFL teams, in showing young ones that sport is about loving the game - not the odds.
Shane Lucas, CEO, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation
Transport troubles
A word of warning if you are planning a trip to - or from - Melbourne. We opted to drive to Waurn Ponds and get the bus, thinking it might be quicker and offer more options. Not so.
The V/Line people at Southern Cross were really helpful and printed a copy of the coach replacement timetable. However, the coaches they offered weren't as the timetable suggested and so if you wanted Waurn Ponds you had to take the bus for 10 stations from Wyndham Vale.
It took us three hours and seven minutes to get from Southern Cross to Waurn Ponds instead of the one hour and 22 minutes that the schedule suggested. No traffic jams but lots of stopping and starting and feeling nauseous by the end.
I know they have to do rail works and use coaches, but be sure to allow plenty of time or you will miss your appointment. In hindsight, it is better to just get the bus all the way or wait until the trains are back.
Lynne Carter, Warrnambool
Grinds my gears
Can someone explain to us why oil has dropped well over 20 per cent, yet the bowser price for diesel has dropped less than 10 per cent around Warrnambool?
And why the 10 to 17 cent per litre difference between Warrnambool and Hamilton and Portland?
Obviously it doesn't bother our politicians - as we pay their fuel bill as well.
Neil Dumesny, Hawkesdale
'Silly and outdated'
It is time for us to have our own Head of State and rid ourselves of the archaic and silly system of the Monarchy which has been built on the back of ancient and recent (Mau Mau) historical violence, cover-ups, murders, theft, rape and racial cleansing (not to mention Terra Nullius). Mostly under the banner of colonisation.
Silly? A Monarch depends on an accident of birth. It means all the privileges and your own set of rules (including the Monarch cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from a civil suit or criminal prosecution).
The Monarchy is sill propped up by the British taxpayer to the tune of $AU191,706,112.00 per year (2021-2022). We, as taxpayers, contribute millions of dollars to royal visits.
King Charles alone has an estimated net worth of $600,000,000. The coronation ceremony for Charles: taxpayer cost of $AU94 million to $AU190 million. I mean this is a family who don't even use their own name. They changed their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor during World War One to pretend they weren't related to the enemy.
Archaic? Bowing, curtsying, knights, dames and golden carriages. The coronation divine appointment itself where Charles and Camilla are inside a tent (which has been carried in by the knights of the royal garter) being anointed by holy oils prepared in Jerusalem.
Our constitution states the executive power of the Commonwealth is vested with the Monarch (Queen/King).
The present system is outdated and laughable.
Gavin Arnott, Allansford
Authority way to go
AGL faced considerable pressure from the former federal government to keep the Liddell coal-fired power station, in NSW, open for five years longer or sell it. But investing in batteries and renewables generation made more sense for the diversified energy company.
We will soon see how this pans out. It is evident, though, that governments can't always be relied on to judge things well in the midst of a complex energy revolution. That's why a national energy transition authority, to provide independent advice, and help protect the socio-economic needs of the most-affected workers and regions, is a timely idea.
Jim Allen, Panorama, SA
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