By Christopher Testa
Thursday, 22 November 2012 -- Supermarket giant Woolworths held an Extraordinary General Meeting this morning in Adelaide where a motion to force the company to place 1 dollar bet limits on its poker machines was defeated.
Anti-pokies campaigners continue to pressure the supermarket giant to commit to combat problem gambling.
GetUp, which launched the campaign which initially forced the EGM, staged a protest outside the Adelaide Convention Centre with Independent Senator Nick Xenophon in attendance.
Audio report at http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=9883.
Speaking in the report are Nick Xenophon, Independent Senator for South Australia,
Ross Womersley, executive director of the South Australian Council of Social Services and Sam McLean, national director of GetUp.
Comments
“Woolies wins vote, loses PR battle”
That’s the headline of the Age’s coverage of today's Extraordinary General Meeting of Woolworths today. It says it all.
I’ve just returned from Adelaide where we attended today’s Extraordinary General Meeting of Woolworths Ltd. Please excuse the late email, but I want quickly to let you know what happened:
1. Woolworths will continue to choose profits over people.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the Woolworths board cajoled institutional investors to oppose our motion requesting bet and time limits on the company's poker machines. Woolworths, the largest sole operator of poker machines in the country, kept insisting that the company is "leading the pack" on "responsible gambling." As Senator Nick Xenophon put it today, "Woolworths are leading a pack - it's a pack of vultures" preying on addicted gamblers. The decision is a slap in the face to GetUp members and other Australians who have seen their families torn apart because of addiction to Woolworths poker machines.
2. You beat them, and you did it with dignity.
Promiment shareholder expert and founder of Crikey, Stephen Mayne, after observing our meeting, tweeted: "that 100 minute Woolies EGM was the most informed public discussion on pokies we've ever seen."
He was speaking about you - the GetUp members who had the courage to stand up and ask insightful questions or share heartfelt personal stories and the members who offered their proxy votes to make it possible.
As The Age headline says, the more important battle today was in the press. Check out the link below to see the huge list of media coverage your campaign generated today. The truth is, we won before the meeting even began. Hundreds of GetUp members attended the EGM to stand up to the Board of one of the biggest and most notorious companies in Australia, and that was only possible because of the hundreds of thousands of GetUp members who have campaigned for safer poker machines for more than a year.
3. If Woolworths thinks this means the fight is over, they're dead wrong.
GetUp members Karen and Helena, both of whom tragically lost their partners to suicide due to the despair they felt from addiction to pokies gambling, did not fly all the way to Adelaide with their children and families just for a vote or a media opportunity. They came to share their deeply personal stories with the Board of Woolworths because they’re in this campaign for the long run. They want safer machines so that no other family needs to go through what they have gone through.
When I walked out of the meeting we were met by a huge media scrum who wanted to speak with GetUp members and hear their stories. The journalists wanted to hear from members of a community movement, a movement that Woolworths is underestimating if it thinks profiting from pain isn’t going to affect its brand in the long run. Because of us, Woolworths can no longer hide behind its façade as a family-friendly corporate leader. It is because of your support, and because of the amazing members who shared their stories today, that we’ve already received coverage about today's meeting on almost every major TV news network, more than 20 radio stations around the country and every major Newspaper in the country.
Check out some photos from the event and a sample of the recent media coverage by clicking here:
http://blog.getup.org.au/2012/11/22/egm
Meaningful, history-making change never comes easy, but the GetUp community has demonstrated loud and clear that we are not afraid of taking on the big fights and punching above our weight. We already have some exciting actions planned over the Christmas season and we won't stop there.
Days like today makes me so proud and excited to be part of our movement. I can’t wait to take on what comes next in the fight for poker machine reform, knowing that there are people like you who are part of the GetUp community leading the way.
In hope,
Sam McLean, GetUp National Director
PS – Yesterday’s announcement about refugees is also weighing heavily on my mind and we've heard from many GetUp members who want to do more to help the situation. While we’re working on pokies, we also have a close eye on responding to the situation with asylum seekers, and we’ll be in touch with more opportunities to take action.