Whilst the Federal ALP has about half its $50 million asset base tied up in five poker machine venues in Canberra, they aren't the only major party deserving of some attention from the anti-pokies movement.

The Victorian Liberals, in their wisdom, have preselected Julian McGauran to be number three on their ticket. McGauran is in a three way contest with Greens candidate Richard di Natale and the third Labor candidate Anthony Thow to win the fifth and sixth Senate spots. We all know that the ALP and the Liberal-Nationals will definitely each win two spots, but after that it is a real lottery.

McGauran's family owns the Millers Inn in North Altona, just 4 kilometres away from Julia Gillard's Melbourne home. The Millers Inn markets itself as "family friendly" and fleeced gamblers of a staggering $13.2 million in 2008-09.

The City of Manningham will be unveiling its draft gambling policy at next Tuesday's council meeting and it will interesting to see where Federal Labor and the Coalition choose to launch their equivalents.

Perhaps Ms Gillard should drop into the Werribee Plaza Inn, a Woolworths pub in her Lalor electorate, to announce the policy because its Victoria's biggest non-casino gaming venue where punters lose more than $20 million a year.

And where better than for Tony Abbott but the Millers Inn to announce whatever tough action the Liberals have in mind for the pokies. Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgeman signed up for the all-important $1 maximum bet limit. Why doesn't Tony follow suit?

On a different front, have a read of this letter from Jeff Kennett to senator Nick Xenophon, responding to the senator's call for Kennett's resignation from beyondblue and Amtrak.

It's classic Kennett as he fails to see the problem with chairing a pokies service and a depression institution given the prominent connection between the two.

Finally, check out the latest from Paul Bendat's Pokieact website and this package of our past pokies coverage.

from GetUp …..

Australia is home to the largest number of dangerous high-loss pokie machines in the world – and grocery giant Woolies is the king of the hill: the largest pokie machine venue owner in the country, with more pokie machines than the top five Las Vegas casinos combined![1]

Why? Pure dollars: owning hotels with pokie machines is reportedly three times more profitable than selling groceries. No one would know this better than Australia's trusted household brand, which now has more than 12,000 computerised gambling machines in around 300 hotels across the country.[2]

These machines have been called the "crack cocaine" of gambling. Players are estimated to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on these machines annually.[3] They’re designed to be highly addictive, especially to those already prone to problem  gambling, making them uniquely profitable to big corporations and destructive to the lives of thousands of Australian families. Plenty of Woolworths customers – and  shareholders – are not happy that the ‘Fresh Food People’ are heavily profiting from an industry that’s taking the food off so many family  tables. Together, we’re taking our voices to the top by presenting your petition directly to senior executives at this Thursday's Woolworths AGM. 

Imagine the look on the faces of these back room executives when we tell them directly how many shareholders, employees and customers of Woolworths want them to better serve their customers by coming out in support of pokie reform. We won't reveal your name to Woolworths but the total number will be powerful. Can you sign the petition and let us know if you are a Wooloworths customer, employee or shareholder?

It’s alarming enough that a trusted family brand has out-invested the top five Las Vegas casinos in pokie machines – but they’ve also made it clear that they don't think that their many customers who have been devastated by the impacts of problem gambling are their problem. Earlier this year the head of Woolworths' gambling subsidiary spoke in front of a parliamentary inquiry and shamelessly compared gambling addiction to hamburgers by saying: ''I think the product is safe. Some people have addictions, be it to fast food or drugs…are we asking, is a hamburger safe?" [4] Woolworths representatives sit on the executive board of the Australian Hotels Association, who are jointly responsible with Clubs Australia for the so called '$20 million' mass advertising campaign against pokies reform.[5] 

Woolworths may have the dollars, but with more than 585,000 of us across the country – many of whom are Woolies' shareholders, employees and customers – we can change the direction of the company. Some concerned individuals have already volunteered to allow GetUp to send “proxies” on their behalf to the AGM – spokespeople who will represent them, and speak directly about their own personal experience of the devastating effects  of problem pokie gambling (and present your petition). It's a rare opportunity to take our message directly to the top and have it delivered not by an outside group of activists, but through the company's own concerned shareholders. Sign the petition now, and let us know if you’re a Woolworths shareholder, employee or customer.

http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-reform/woolworths-agm-petition/pokies-petition

An Annual General Meeting is the one chance we get each year to bypass the usual spin doctors and media gate holders and speak directly to the company Chair and senior executives, publicly, and on the record. 

The truth is, Woolworths can more than afford to curb problem gambling and still profit handsomely from recreational pokie players, alongside all  their other business. We frankly expect better of a trusted Australian family brand than to fund a massive and misleading ad campaign against pokie reform. Our petition is already nearly 50,000 strong. Now we want to make it even bigger, and tell Woolworths just how many of their customers, shareholders and employees have signed it. We'll be presenting all this on Thursday: thank you for adding your voice now and spreading the word. 

Thank you for all that you do,

Erin, for the GetUp team

[1]"Woolworths hits the jackpot with pokies after signing deal with Laundy hotel group", Daily Telegraph. November 11, 2011

[2] "Woolworths in pokie grip talks", Sydney Morning Herald. April 18, 2011

[3]"Woolies is poker machine king", Daily Telegraph. November 12, 2011

[4]"Playing pokies just like eating a burger, says Woolies subsidiary", Sydney Morning Herald. February 15, 2011

[5] "Woolworths revealed to own more pokies than the Adelaide Casino", News.com.au. April 16, 2011