Alexander Downer Quits

I guess it is no fun being in opposition after a reign as Australia's longest serving Foreign Minister. Alexander Downer has pulled the plug on a rather long and somewhat distinguished political career.

There are, as in any long career, a couple of moments that could have run better that might have seen him as Prime Minister rather than Foreign Minister. Unfortunately, the comment that undid him and saw him dumped as Liberal Leader was a stupid attempt at humour through a play on words.

The former Foreign Minister is moving into a part-time United Nations role as Special Envoy for Cyprus. The major role here is thought to be an effort to revive the peace process between the Greeks and the Turks over Cyprus.

This means that there will be a need for a by-election in his seat of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills. This has always been a pretty safe Liberal seat and it is currently held by 7.1%. This is after a swing of 6.5% against Downer at the last election. However, with the recent results in the Gippsland by-election showing a swing away from Labor, it is expected that this will become a much safer Liberal seat at the by-election.

Labor is even considering the option of not running a candidate which suggests that they are a little bit concerned about being humiliated as the electorate has had a little time to re-evaluate their decision to elect a Labor government.

Anyway, good luck to the fella!

ATMs and Poker Machines

Out of one and into the other!

Gambling is a problem and problem gamblers face more challenges than most in avoiding the pit falls of their addiction. I have always wondered about the common sense of having an ATM in the same room as a lot of poker machines. The temptation for a problem gambler to pour all their cash into one machine after having taken it out of the other must be huge.


So, it is with interest that I read the Senator-elect from South Australia, Nick Xenophon, who seemingly was elected on his anti-pokies platform, intends to introduce a private members bill when he takes up his position on 1 July 2008.


The essence of the bill would be to ban ATMs from pubs and clubs. I fully support such a move. It will be interesting to see whether the move gets universal support in the parliament. Pokies are big business and from the pub and club perspective it makes a lot of sense to have an ATM on site to ensure that punters have access to cash. The bill would not effect the pub's and club's abilities with regard to EFTPOS or electronic funds transfer machines. The senator-elect recognizes that EFTPOS is important for allowing patrons to pay for drinks, food, and accommodation.


The winner is always just around the corner which is probably why having an ATM in a pub or club is such a dangerous thing.