Canberra Times Letters to the Editor: It’s addiction by design

Professor Natasha Schüll, of MIT, calls this "addiction by design". Poker machines are designed to disguise losses as "wins", to make gamblers think that they have almost won when they haven't, and to make gamblers believe that they are controlling the reels when they aren't. The perception of "near wins" and the congratulatory lights and sounds which accompany wins and pseudo-wins, all help to keep gamblers in "the zone" of escape and illusion.

Gaming experts have questioned whether someone playing 1200 games an hour for two hours can be said to be "making decisions", much less a careful choice to keep playing.

The American Psychiatric Association has recently changed the classification of pathological gambling: it is now recognised as an addiction, not an impulse-control disorder.

We need to stop calling addicted players like Laurie Brown "problem gamblers" and start sheeting home the responsibility where it belongs: with machines designed to addict and the venues that exploit them.

Karina Morris, Weetangara

Apart from being dumb, expensive, and unwanted, the proposed Civic-Woden tram (John L Smith, Letters, November 25) could offend the Crown, with its Australian Representative likely to (discreetly) object to the loss of the wonderful views from Dunrossil Drive of the treasured town-separating greenbelt and horse paddocks, which the ACT Government needs to sell to developers as part of the tram scheme.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

I am in total agreement with David McVeigh (Letters, November 28) in lambasting the content of free-to-air TV.

Why are more people not complaining?

I was forced to switch off not because of other digital mediums available but because the content was becoming totally nauseous and I found it more stimulating watching paint dry.

For those left with little option to do other activities, particularly seniors and those in retirement villages, the quality of the content of free-to-air TV is a great support in promoting the case for voluntary euthanasia.

On a positive note however, according to more recent television ratings numbers, more and more consumers like myself are switching off.

Last one out please turn out the lights.

Wayne Grant, Swinger Hill

Last weekend I watched two Rugby Union test matches, one between Scotland and Australia and the other, Wales and New Zealand.

In each game I noticed that the referee, on at least one occasion, appeared to physically touch a player. In each situation the gesture was obviously friendly, well-intentioned and non-malicious.

I recall, a couple of years ago, a Canberra Raiders player being reported for coming into contact with an official. This contact was mentioned as accidental and minimal. However the player was subsequently suspended for one match.

The moral of this situation is obvious, not only with respect to football, but across all sporting codes. Players do not touch officials (and vice-versa) other than in extenuating or specifically defined or prescribed circumstances.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

Coal-fired power plants generally have useful operating lives of about 50 years, and of Australia's 12 largest such plants, none are less than 24 years old, with six of them having been in service for 35 years or more.

Doug Hurst (Letters, November 29) not only objects to the use of wind and solar generation to replace Australia's ageing coal-fired power plants, despite the fact that new-build renewable electricity is cheaper than new-build coal-fired capacity, he also asserts that reducing our reliance on coal to meet our ever-increasing energy requirements has "no proven environmental benefit".

If the extensive literature on the relationship between rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the earth's rapidly warming climate, or the link between the burning of coal and deaths due to respiratory illnesses are not enough to dissuade Mr Hurst from advocating that we burn even more, perhaps he should visit any one of the many cities in China, India or the Middle East where the air is so thick with the by-products of coal combustion that roads, schools and airports are sometimes forced to close and the severe impacts on human health are so endemic as to be beyond question.

James Allan, Narrabundah

The minor literary tirade from Doug Hurst (Letters, November 29) about "shutting down fossil fuel fired power plants in favour of wind and solar is partly answered by Murray Kelly's letter of the same edition.

That referred to the unreliability of older coal and gas-fired generators.

One fundamental idea behind the push for renewable energy is that it progressively replaces coal and gas-fired plants as they reach the end of their economic lives.

There is no intention that I know of to shut down perfectly serviceable power stations.

As for Mr Hurst's "no proven environmental benefit" in replacing coal and gas with renewables, he should acquaint himself with the facts about the hazards of coal burning.

Among many other "nasties", coal burning releases mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic, all of which are cumulative, into the atmosphere.

And that's in addition to the well-proven adverse effects of carbon dioxide on our environment.

No, Doug, Queenslanders — and all of us — are not blowing off our legs, we're saving our skins.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

So the richest, and most heavily rated/taxed jurisdiction in the country has the worst emergency department waiting times. Definitely a case of not getting what you've paid for.

M. Moore, Bonython

Ross Gittins' article ( "Low wages growth is the real reason you are feeling the cost-of-living pinch", November 29, p.19) is correct. At least part of the reason that wage-earners are experiencing a standard of living squeeze is that their wages are no longer keeping up with their retail costs of living.

That gap is being concealed by the published "inflation" statistics — the CPI.

The CPI adjusts retail prices downwards in an effort to arrive at a measure that the economists like to call "inflation" so, if wages grow at about the CPI, they actually fall behind retail prices. It's not imaginary.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics used to warn that CPI does not measure costs of living.

The difference between CPI and retail prices was a major reason why the Age Pension had to include a wage index measure (MTAWE) back in 1997, so that age pensioners would not starve or freeze to death embarrassingly quickly.

It is the reason why the 2014 budget proposal to revert Age Pension indexation to CPI was dropped (after an outcry).

It is the reason why some Centrelink pensioners have to beg or steal, and why retirees with CPI-indexed pensions are bewildered by the drop in their standards of living after a few years in retirement.

Now the wage-earning public, receiving CPI-or-lower wage increases, is experiencing the same squeeze on their standards of living.

If the ABS also published the retail prices of the items they already measure to produce the CPI, politicians could compare those numbers with wages growth to see how bad the standard of living situation is, and why they are being blamed.

Richard Griffiths, national president, Australian Council of Public Sector Retiree Organisations, Farrer

Again the very vocal minority has got another institution changed, this time the Triple J 100 hits.

For a long time an Australia Day tradition, it has been changed to the day after.

The radio station said it had nothing to do with the date but they have long been a supporter of a date change for Australia Day so the change is because of pressure.

The nation had a referendum for marriage equality, the change of the date for Australia Day is equally important.

Take the issue to the people, I guarantee the vast majority would not want a date change.

Alan Leitch, Austins Ferry, Tas

The ACT government proudly proclaims Canberra as "Australia's most LGBTIQ-friendly city".

Since the SSM survey, it can also claim to be the LGBTIQ capital of Australia, with Braddon now blatantly painted up as the Oxford Street of Canberra.

Mr Barr and his LGBTIQ community would be well advised to remember that the SSM survey was strictly about single-sex marriage and nothing else.

While 74 per cent of Canberrans may have voted for SSM, that does not mean, in any way, that they voted for anything else but SSM.

And those who voted No are not necessarily the bigots that the LGBTIQ community is so wont to call them.

M. Silex, Erindale

North Korea's latest ballistic missile test should remind the world of Donald Trump's threat that the US would have "no choice but to totally destroy" the country if it continued to pursue its weapons program.

Perhaps Kim Jong-un would take Trump more seriously had the latter threatened to destroy California after the US conducted its own intercontinental ballistic missile test there on August 2?

Doubtless we would all be a lot safer if our warrior politicians stopped threatening everyone and adopted the eminently sensible suggestion that disputes between nation states be resolved by placing their leaders in a ring and letting them slug it out.

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

Michael Koziol found Senator Abetz' eulogy for marriage in the Senate a source of amusement ("'Only dead fish go with the flow': Abetz finds cause for rebellion", November 28, News 4).

Easy for Mr Koziol to feign fairness in reporting a "no" view, now that the re-definition of marriage is on its way. Less fair, however, is his contempt for the 62,000 Canberrans who voted "no", and the 62 per cent of Australians, according to Newspoll, who wanted freedom of conscience, belief and religion safeguards in the new law.

Arthur Connor, Weston

In one of her columns last year Kasey Edwards made a good case for women keeping their father's name rather than their husband's when they get married.

After all, their father has probably given them away at the ceremony; why shouldn't they keep his name?

Rather than the constant reminder of how she is subordinated to her husband, a married woman can constantly remind her husband of her mother's subordination to her father.

As for the children, it is surely to the advantage of the grandparents to give their name to a child who was incontravertably borne by their daughter, rather than allegedly fathered by their son.

This idea should explode more heads than marriage equality.

S. W. Davey, Torrens

Apologies to the people who voted to change the date of Triple J's Hottest 100 from Australia Day to January 27 "out of respect for Indigenous Australians" ("Triple J's Hottest 100 will now no longer air on Australia Day", November 28. p3) but I couldn't resist a chuckle.

The item immediately brought to mind John Cleese as Reg in Life of Brian trying to motivate a meeting of Arab dissidents by asking "What have the Romans done for us?" and getting the grudging reply, "well, sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, fresh water systems, central heating, public health, etc".

It would be interesting to know how many of those who voted for the change were university students on some sort of government grant?

Bill Deane, Chapman

It's taken far too long for the Australian Energy Market Commission to start to repair the damage done by it's very poor NEM rule decisions of the past.

A quick look at the composition of the Executive Leadership team suggests the problem — they are all lawyers and economists.

I would like to see some engineers and consumers represented on the board as they are the ones who best understand what is technically feasible and have to pay for it.

The lawyers are there, too often, to argue the toss and the economists tell stories based more on dogma than evidence.

Brad Sherman, Duffy

DEVELOPER CREDITS

In his latest book Keeping On Keeping On, Alan Bennett, the renowned British writer on city developers and planners in London, writes: "Who are these people? ... Their names and addresses should be printed alongside the senseless decisions they make." Why not? Walter Burley Griffin did. Start with whatever goes on about the Curtin shops.

Peter Howell, Curtin

TIT-FOR-TAT BILLS

Tit for tat is hard to avoid. A private member's marriage equality bill? OK, we'll have a private member's banking sector bill.

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

APP FOR THAT

Frank Marris (Letters, November25) writes: "And the 'representative government' for which Benwell yearns would presumably require MPs to commission public opinion polls of their electorates to determine how they should vote on each and every issue arising in the chamber."

There's an app for that. #voteflux.

Ken Robertson, Barden Ridge, NSW

SWIMMING WITH ABETZ

I'd like to point out to Eric Abetz that the rainbow trout swims against the flow. He should know. They have them in Tasmania.

Miroslav Bukovsky, Flynn

FAST SERVICE

On Tuesday I caught the 9.37am Action bus from Curtin to Woden and completed four small tasks at a bank, a rediteller, the post office, and a store. I was able to catch the 10.31am return service and got back home in time for morning tea. No parking problems, no stress. I even had time to some of The Canberra Times.

Mike Reddy, Curtin

INQUIRY DAMAGE

A royal commission into banks is desirable, but would damage confidence in our banks, particularly among vital foreign lenders.

Rod Matthews, Melbourne,Vic

DUCKED DEATH

About six weeks ago, a pair of ducks with eight tiny ducklings were over our road. Since then the flock has crossed the road numerous times, despite much traffic, including buses. I anticipated a massacre. My worries are over. On Tuesday I saw all the young ducks flying away. Amazing.

Angela Plant, Franklin

ROYAL PAIN

Is there any TV channel I can turn to that will not have a running commentary on what Prince Harry and his wife-to-be to be will be doing from now to the day they marry?

Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE

Yes, Ken McPhan (Letters, November28), I've noticed the same thing. Ramsay completely ignored his Christian involvement during his election campaign and has studiously ignored it since. Is he ashamed of it? Is he covering up something? Or doesn't it sit well with Labor policy?

Geoff McLaren, Scullin

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