Merrylands Rsl Poker
7:30 PM - Merrylands RSL- $1.00. NSW - Sydney South. Anzac day poker Triple header Wed 25th April inc Day 1 Quarterly @ Petersham Rsl Petersham RSL, NSW. More than $50 million was generated from poker machines at Cabra-Vale Diggers Club in Canley Vale in south-western Sydney last year alone. Machines at Merrylands RSL had a net clearance of more than $23 million in 2011. Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club Limited and Controlled Entities I declare that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, during the year ended 31 December 2017, there have been: (i) no contraventions of the auditor independence requirements as set out in the Corporations Act 2001 in relation to the audit;.
And now to an issue of rather more consequence to tens of thousands of Australian families than expensive London weddings: the havoc wreaked by poker machines. Or as 2GB's Alan Jones would rather put it...
Alan Jones: ...the nonsense that this fool in Tasmania Andrew Wilkie, who's given his vote to Julia Gillard, has made her Prime Minister, on the basis of her introducing a 3 billion dollar mandatory, pre-commitment, quote unquote 'reform' of poker machine operations in this country, the bloke's a goose, but unfortunately he's a dangerous goose.
— 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 7th April, 2011
A few weeks ago, you may remember, I pointed out that when it came to climate change science, a lot of commercial talkback programs around the country were ignoring the Commercial Radio Code of Practice that's designed to
promote accuracy and fairness in news and current affairs programs
— Commercial Radio Australia, Code of Practice and Guidelines, 10 June, 2010
According to section 2.3 of that Code:
a licensee must ensure that...reasonable efforts are made...to present significant viewpoints when dealing with controversial issues of public importance...
— Commercial Radio Australia, Code of Practice and Guidelines, 10 June, 2010
Well, Alan Jones's coverage of the poker machine reforms seems to us to have been every bit as one-sided as his coverage of climate change science.
Wilkie's a fool, a goose, a dope, and a nitwit.
Alan Jones: Does this dope Wilkie know that a 40 percent loss to clubs is 1.3 to 2 billion a year? It'd cost New South Wales nearly 12 thousand jobs. It'd reduce the gross state product by 820 million dollars. State taxes would be gone 200 million. This is serious, serious stuff.
— 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 25th February, 2011
Jones has returned to the theme at least a dozen times this year. That includes his recent ANZAC broadcast from the Merrylands RSL Club - proud operator of two hundred and forty one poker machines - where he interviewed the Executive Director of Clubs Australia...
Anthony Ball: it is madness, it is a political deal that has the potential to devastate great clubs like the Merrylands RSL and the Narrabri Golf Club, it will do a job on the entire industry
Alan Jones: That's right
— 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 21st April, 2011
That's right. Well, fair enough. The clubs and the pubs deserve to have their say. But are there no other significant viewpoints on this controversial issue of public importance?
What about Andrew Wilkie, who after all does chair the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform?
Or Senator Nick Xenophon, who has campaigned on pokies for years?
What about Jenny Macklin, the minister responsible for the new legislation?
Or Gary Banks, the Productivity Commission Chairman, whose latest report recommends mandatory pre-commitment trials?
Or someone from Wesley Mission or the Salvos, who deal with the devastation that pokie addiction causes to thousands of families all over Australia?
Well, 2GB drive host Ben Fordham has had Wilkie on once - not on his own, mind you, but together with Clubs Australia's Anthony Ball.
But the station doesn't seem to think Alan Jones listeners, need more than one viewpoint: the clubs'.
Alan Jones: There is no published evidence to support pre-commitment technology as an effective way to curb problem gambling.
— 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 8th April, 2011
Merrylands Rsl Poker Tournaments
That's not what the Productivity Commission says. After reviewing the evidence from around the world, it concluded in its report last year:
pre-commitment is a strong, practicable and ultimately cost-effective option for harm minimisation.
— Productivity Commission Inquiry Report into Gambling Volume 1, 26th February, 2010
But after all, it's not Alan Jones's responsibility to ensure that 2GB follows the Codes of Practice. It's the licensee's. And the licensee is Harbour Radio, a company owned by the Macquarie Radio Network.
Three quarters of its shares are owned by this bloke. And John Singleton owns more than radio stations.
A couple of years ago he sold his brewery. These days he's a pub owner instead. He part-owns Kinselas, in Sydney's Taylor Square...with 30 poker machines
the Peakhurst Inn in southern Sydney, another 27 pokies
the Steyne at Manly, with 30 pokies...and the Bellevue in Paddington, with 9 pokies.
And then, of course, there's the advertising agency that Singo part owns, called Banjo.
Alan Jones: John Singleton, one of the owners of this station, will spearhead a twenty million dollar two-year advertising campaign against these ridiculous poker machine laws which I've been talking about.
— 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 10th March, 2011
That's right. The advertising campaign the pubs and clubs are running against the pokie reforms is being masterminded by John Singleton's Banjo - a fact mentioned by Jones just twice in the past two months.
Who Voted for a Licence to Punt?
Its Un-Australian.Com.Au
Merrylands Rsl Poker Games
— Daily Telegraph, 10th April, 2011
That twenty million dollar figure, by the way, has been widely reported, but Clubs Australia's Jeremy Bath tells Media Watch it's wildly wrong.
I expect the total cost will be about $2 million.
— Response from Clubs Australia to Media Watch, 28th April, 2011
Merrylands Rsl Poker Game
Well, whether it's 2 million or 20, on the face of it, it's a substantial interest. Shouldn't his involvement in the ad campaign be more regularly declared on 2GB? we asked John Singleton. He replied...
The more publicity the better, especially on ABC. Generally I am proud of my association/ownership of 2GB/2CH, pubs, clubs and don't want a government licence to have a bet.
— Response from John Singleton to Media Watch, 28th April, 2011
It takes more than a few questions from Media Watch to upset Singo. But whatever we do upsets Alan Jones. All the way from England, he sent us a furious response to questions that weren't even addressed to him...
The questions being asked of John Singleton are just typical Media Watch, biased, ignorant, uninformed, selective...
— Email from Alan Jones, 29th April, 2011
That's funny, Alan. Those are just the adjectives I'd choose to describe your coverage of the poker machine reforms.
I'm not suggesting that you, or anyone else at 2GB, are following a line laid down by the boss. As you point out, you're well-known for your support of the clubs.
I am suggesting that given his own financial interests, and his personal views, the majority owner of your station is unlikely to insist that your program makes reasonable efforts to...
present significant viewpoints when dealing with controversial issues of public importance...
— Commercial Radio Australia, Code of Practice and Guidelines, 10 June, 2010
Especially when the issue is poker machine reform.
That's it for this week. More details on all those stories on our website later tonight.
Until next week, goodnight.