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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
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Plans for $17.5m Wangaratta Creative Precinct
Wangaratta’s Sophie Rickard
Page 3
was overjoyed when security camera footage and a Facebook post helped the community and police apprehend a thief who had stolen her bike from her home only hours earlier. FULL STORY PAGE 2
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TOO BIG A GAMBLE Local federal MP is among g ggrowing g chorus calling g for national ggambling g ad ban
WANGARATTA-based WANGARATTA b d Independent federal MP for Indi, Helen Haines, is among the signatories of an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton which calls for a ban on gambling ads. With the Federal Government expected to respond this week to a 2022 parliamentary inquiry into
BY SIMONE KERWIN skerwin@ nemedia.com.au
online gambling, which was chaired by late MP Peta Murphy and recommended phasing out gambling advertising over three years, the letter signed by 74 prominent Australians supports this concept, and
calls the nation’s ll on th ti ’ lleaders d to “please act now”. Along with Dr Haines and a number of other current politicians, the letter has the support of former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, family violence prevention advocate Rosie Batty, former Victorian Premiers Jeff Kennett and Steve Bracks, former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet,
sports Gideon t jjournalist li t Gid Haigh and Western Bulldogs premiership captain Easton Wood. Clergy members, university professors, health organisations, business people, and Salvation Army, Wesley Mission, Anglicare and St Vincent de Paul Society leaders have also lent their names to the open letter published by
the th Alliance Alli ffor Gambling G bli Reform, which asserts that “Australia has a gambling addiction”. “It is not only leading to $25 billion in annual losses – it is escalating devastating social harm including financial loss, health and mental health issues, partner violence, family break-up and suicide,” the letter reads.
“There evidence “Th iis strong t id that gambling companies are now grooming our kids by targeting children as young as 14 through social media. “Our children are also being targeted by the tsunami of gambling ads that assault our screens, especially around coverage of our major sporting codes. ■ Continued page 3
Faces of Small Business Learn more in this Friday’s issue.
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