The meeting of Heads of Government today provides an opportunity for genuine leadership by our governments to deal with problem gambling.

Chair of the Heads of Christian Churches Taskforce on Gambling, Mr Stephen Richards said "There are 2 gambling issues that are crying out for coordinated action from all of the governments in Australia. These issues are

• A national structure for gambling regulation, so that we have consistent policies across Australia to reduce the harm from gambling.
• National coordination to control Internet gambling"

Mr Richards also said, "the millions of church going Australians are becoming very frustrated at the continued bickering between federal and state governments over who is responsible for gambling regulation. This petty bickering means that the 2.4 million Australians who are adversely affected by gambling continue to be trapped, willingly exploited by governments who continue to rely heavily on gambling revenue to boost their Treasuries".

The churches call on the Heads of Australian Governments to show leadership today by agreeing immediately to reduce the harm caused by gambling. This can be achieved by a commitment to establish national, coordinated gambling regulatory structures and by commitment to minimise the number of new problem gamblers who will get caught in Internet gambling.