Positive gambling messages?
Researchers from CQUniversity have found that positive messages to help manage online gambling are more likely to encourage punters to take action.
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The research follows evidence that online gambling puts participants at higher risk of gambling harm than traditional consumers.
However, the key to better habits could be at the fingertips of gamblers, with sports and racing bettors often wagering using smartphone applications, which could be effective in promoting tips and messages to prevent gambling harm.
A study by CQUniversity’s Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL), funded by Gambling Research Australia (GRA), trialled a range of safe gambling messages. Researchers found participants rated positive messaging, on how to control money spent on gambling, as the most helpful and easy to understand.
The five-week behavioural trial pushed randomised messages to more than 2000 regular sports and race consumers. It measured impacts on the amounts they bet, the time they spent betting, and the overall gambling harms experienced.
In addition to positive-emotional messages like ’betting less lets you spend more money on the important people in your life’, the trial also included control-based messages like ‘only bet what you can afford’ and norm-based information including ‘most people who gamble bet $10 a week or less’.
Telehealth items returned
Rural doctors have welcomed the announcement by the Federal Government that a number of Medicare items for telehealth that were available earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic will be reinstated until June 30 to support GPs and consultant specialists in providing care during the Omicron coronavirus wave.
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) said the measures would greatly assist rural GPs, rural generalists and rural consultant specialists to care for patients while also reducing the spread of Omicron.
The government’s announcement is in response to requests made to the government last week by the four GP peak bodies — RDAA, ACRRM, the AMA and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), as well as the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) — to ensure general practice is well placed to continue to provide quality care as the pandemic continues.
Australian cancer patients will still be able to access vital Medicare rebates for phone calls with their specialists — at least for the next six months — after the Federal Government reversed an unexpected decision to axe the telehealth item.
The nation’s peak body of cancer specialists had been strongly advocating for their patients to continue to access subsidised phone call consultations, especially at a time when the surge in COVID-19 posed a great risk to those Australians with compromised immunity.
The telehealth reforms were announced eight working days before they were due to start on January 1, 2022. It sparked immediate concerns for the Private Cancer Physicians of Australia (PCPA) which said too many cancer patients — elderly, regional, those without stable internet, with landlines only and those who couldn’t manage the technology — simply could not cope without access to subsidised phone consultations.
Oliver and Charlotte top names
Oliver has once again proven to be Victoria’s most popular boy’s name, while Charlotte has clinched the top spot for girls.
Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes announced the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria list of top 100 popular baby names for 2021.
In a move unsurprising to parents of any Olivers around the state, the name has now topped the list for boys eight years running, beating out Noah, Jack and Charlie. Over the course of Oliver’s eight-year reign, 4197 babies have received the popular name.
Olivia and Charlotte have been locked in a tussle, battling it out for the coveted number one spot on the girls’ list for almost a decade. Charlotte took the crown in 2021, nudging ahead of Olivia, Isla, Amelia and Mia.
While Oliver has had an impressive streak at the top, the name still hasn’t reached the peaks of another popular boy’s name. That title belongs to John, which is the longest running top baby name for boys for its 23-year streak from 1929 to 1951. The longest running girl’s name was Margaret for 24 years from 1929 to 1952.
Names with a royal flavour like Charlotte, Archie, Henry and William continue to prove popular, and the distinctly Australian name of Matilda has cracked the top 10 for the past two years.
Zoe and Willow are new additions in the top 10 for 2021, while the top 10 names for boys has seen a shuffle around but no new entrants.
Names such as Grace, Amelia, Jack and Charlie dominate the pointy end of the list but further down the top 100 are less common names such as Indiana, Remi and Savannah for girls, and Kai, Asher and Maverick for boys.
In 2021 there were 76,410 births registered in Victoria — up from 74,620 in 2020 — including 551 Olivers and 410 Charlottes.
Parents have 60 days to register their baby’s name and can do so easily online and for free with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Beer sales pandemic-hit
Australian Tax Office (ATO) figures for draught beer sales in the first quarter (July-September) of the 2021-22 tax year have shown the devastating impact of the pandemic on Australia’s hospitality sector.
The figures show that pubs and clubs sold 40 million fewer pints of beer in July-September 2021 than they did for the same period in 2019, before the pandemic hit. That’s a massive drop of more than 50 per cent in beer sales for struggling venues.
After a horror year in 2020 where pubs and clubs lost more than $1 billion in beer sales due to lockdowns and other restrictions, these latest figures from the ATO show that losses for 2021 could well exceed this.
The ATO recorded 903,982 litres of alcohol as having been served in beers over the counter in July-September 2021 compared to 1,993,027 litres during the same period in 2019.
Brewers Association of Australia chief executive John Preston said his group was very concerned that on February 1 the Federal Government will hit Australian beer drinkers with one of the biggest beer tax increases in more than a decade.
“It’s not right and it’s not sustainable. Other countries have been reducing their tax on draught beer to give pubs and beer drinkers a break.”
Changing places grants
Travelling to places such as the iconic Great Ocean Road will become easier for people with disability, with Victoria’s network of accessible restrooms set to grow.
Disability, Ageing and Carers Minister Anthony Carbines has announced grants to build 18 new, fully accessible, public restrooms through the Andrews Government’s Changing Places program.
Grants valued at up to $110,000 each have been provided to local councils and not-for-profit community organisations to build accessible restrooms with adult change tables and hoists.
There are now 90 Changing Places in Victoria out of 193 nationally. They are relied on by 326,000 Victorians to access popular tourist locations, parks and events, cementing Victoria’s reputation as the nation’s most accessible state for people with disability.
The grants are funded through a $2.5 million investment to expand the Changing Places network, building on $3.5 million previously invested to build 33 facilities at locations including the MCG, Melbourne Zoo and Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.
Grant recipients and new locations can be viewed at providers.dffh.vic.gov.au/changing-places
To see existing Changing Places locations, visit changingplaces.org.au/find-a-toilet
Victorian Companion Card holders are now eligible for a free Master Locksmiths Access Key — a universal access key used to open Changing Places facilities. Apply online at masterlocksmiths.com.au/mlak