GHS hosts an annual Local Government Forum to bring together representatives of all municipalities in the Southern Metropolitan Region to discuss the gambling issues which are of most relevance for councils. Participants include Mayors, Councillors and council staff from Social Planning, Public Health and Community Service departments.

At the inaugural forum in 2003 we "broke even" on the attendance rate, with five out of ten local government areas represented. In June of this year the attendance rate rose to six out of ten.

Council’s are increasingly required to monitor developments in the gambling sector, not only responding to issues that arise, but to be proactive in planning ahead to minimise gambling-related harm. The need to "be prepared" is especially evident when applications for new gaming premises or more gaming machines are considered by the State’s regulatory authority. (See page 6 for details of the outcomes of recent applications in the SMR).

The focus of this year’s meeting was Local Government’s role in this process and the topic was approached from both Regulatory and Local Government perspectives by

our guest speakers on the day. Our thanks go to Kerri Hereward from the (then) Office of Gambling Regulation, Tammy Sheedy from the City of Casey and Trevor McCullough from Kingston Council for their time and effort in sharing their experience and expertise with us.

We also thank Cherry Louey, a Counsellor from the GHS team, who ensured that the morning’s conversation stayed firmly in touch with the reality of the impacts of problem gambling in our community. Cherry’s case presentation showed a client’s situation in the context of the social model of health, and highlighted how policy can underpin action and positive outcomes for individuals, families and communities.

The development of a comprehensive and operational gambling policy is a major task for Local Governments, as Tammy and Trevor’s presentations demonstrated, but one which undoubtedly leave Councils better prepared to address the negative impacts of gambling at a local level. GHS is a strong advocate of policy and we are keen to offer support and assistance to Council’s seeking to progress in this area.

GHS looks forward to building on the success of these events and to reaching our goals of 10/10 LGAs participating in the forum and of 10/10 LGAs with gambling policies!