Weekend protest actions against Woolworths poker machines

Last weekend, GetUp members across the country gathered outside local Woolworths stores to spread the word about the company's heavy investment in dangerous poker machines.

This message from GetUp member Kylee who participated in the Sydney Town Hall action pretty much says it all:

After handing out leaflets to customers and passers-by, we delivered a petition to the area manager at Woolworths Sydney. We told the manager about the facts of the campaign, and then Marc (a fellow GetUp member who joined the action) and I told him our personal stories about pokies.

A policewoman accompanied us. She cried as we spoke. The store manager was really moved as well and said he'd do what he could.

I told him about how my father passed away last year. He struggled for years with addiction to poker machines. Dad sold our family home (that he worked decades of overtime to buy) in order to clear his debts and start again. He was determined to beat the addiction, but he couldn't. Within months nearly $200,000 went into those same machines. Dad was consumed with self hatred; he felt weak, out of control, a failure. He cut himself off from the world. He continued to gamble and despite earning an income above $100,000, was dependent on me to buy him food until cancer made him too sick to play the machines. It's a sad indictment of the pokies that my Dad, in immense pain and confronting his own mortality, was mostly happier in those last 12 months than in the 15 years before combined because he stopped playing the machines and allowed himself to be loved again.

I met Marc, a fellow GetUp member, at Saturday's action and found out we shared past that was marred by pain inflicted by poker machine addiction. He is an only child, and his single mum was addicted too. He told me about his childhood memories of hunger and isolation. For Marc it meant he was left to fend for himself at a young age, coming home from school to an empty home and an empty cupboard, his mother unable to extract herself from the machines. Night after night, he would await the tell-tale sound of her footsteps after midnight, in the hope of a proper meal. Unable to admit her addiction, she explained to him that this is what he deserved.

As Marc's story illustrates, the victims we often don't hear about are those indirectly affected by pokies. For every addicted gambler, there are many more lives impacted: friends, employers, partners, parents and in particular, the most vulnerable of all - the children of addicted gamblers. For me, meeting people like Marc, sharing our stories and taking action together is cathartic, hopeful, and so powerful. Thanks to everyone who is part of the campaign for safer poker machines.

Kylee and Getup National Director, Sam McLean.

We heard similar stories from GetUp members at every action around the country. We had mental health professionals stop to tell us how many people they had seen at the local health service, crippled by gambling addiction to pokies. Woolworths staff on their lunch breaks came out to find out more about the campaign - one even participated in the action before starting her shift. Police officers sent to observe the action let us know about the social impacts of poker machine addiction they've seen. A friendly vendor in Brisbane gave members free milkshakes as a sign of support. At the end of the day the overwhelming sentiment was that this was a great first visible show of community support - but it was just the beginning.

Across the country, our message was respectful but clear. Woolworths are the largest single owner and operator of poker machines in the country. They run the most dangerous machines around: high-rolling, designed to be addictive machines on which problem gamblers can lose up to $15,000 an hour.

On Saturday GetUp members asked Woolworths to walk its talk about being a "family-friendly company", by doing one simple thing: putting sensible limits on its machines. The Productivity Commission recommended that limiting machines to $1 maximum bets and $120 maximum loss in an hour will reduce the impact of problem gambling. If Woolworths move, it will start to shift the entire market, and we can pressure their competitors to follow suit.

Where to from here?

On Thursday, Woolworths have to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders, where the company will vote on adopting measures to make its machines safer. The Woolworths board has done everything - including taking us to court - to avoid that vote, and it will almost certainly stop our motion from succeeding. Change won't be that easy. But the vote will be a huge moment in our campaign, ensuring that every shareholder and investor in Woolworths sees that their pokies are damaging communities, and damaging the reputation of Woolworths.

If Woolworths think this week will be the end of our campaign, well they clearly haven't met Kylee. Thank you for standing with her in this fight. We'll be in touch with more opportunities to make an impact.

There are some photos of GetUp members in action across the country this weekend below. Well done, everyone!

Thanks for all that you do,
The GetUp team.

PS -- Want to join the 49,000 + GetUp members calling for reform? Click here to sign the petition for safer machines.

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