Illawarra Gambling Forum

Wednesday March 6th saw the inaugural meeting of the Illawarra Gambling Forum take place in Wollongong. The suggestion for this forum had come from an earlier meeting which had called together those with an interest in gambling issues to support the first forays of the Multi-Cultural Gambling Service into the Illawarra.

It was decided at the meeting that the benefits of bringing together a number of stakeholders and other interested people to support new projects, share ideas and start a process of working collaboratively together on gambling issues, had considerable merit. Not least were some concerns that the current move by the funding body to develop a strategic direction for planning services, could also benefit from proactive planning at the local and regional level.

Rather than wait for the process to commence "from the top down", so to speak, there was an interest in starting to identify our own issues for the future, consider what we have and what we need to meet any service gaps. Thus was born the idea of a Forum for information sharing, project support and regional strategic planning.

A very sensible suggestion at this first meeting was to also explore whether or not the forum could also sit in alignment with the existing NSW Council on Problem Gambling -perhaps becoming a southern branch of that State based organization. The Council has therefore been asked to attend the next meeting to explore options. It is timely that the Council itself is also in the process of setting up a regional structure and encouraging representation from the south—so watch this space!

In addition to discussing future plans, the meeting also heard back from the multi-cultural gambling service with regards to their early intervention/health promotion project with the Italian and Filipino communities in the Wollongong area. Sue Wicks (Community Arts Project Worker ) also joined us to discuss her proposal of a community awareness strategy which would involve theatre and/or video production on gambling issues.

For further details contact Kate Roberts Tel: 02 44226111

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