Yeah

... who've died by suicide.

So suicide touches every demographic, every postcode in the country, particularly in the bush.

Uh, but, um, you know, everyone is impacted by suicide, and it leaves a terrible toll, and we can do something about it.

You know, more than 3,000 people in Australia tragically die by suicide every year.

Yeah.

But it's really important that we get past that discomfort, and we have the basic skills to have the confidence to have that conversation.

Because, I mean, any discomfort we feel at asking that question pales in significance with, uh, the grief that we would feel, uh, when we lose a loved one or, uh, or a mate to suicide.

... is it? There's a business model here that is predicated on maximizing the losses of a small proportion of the population.

Yeah, it's, it's the poorest people who are sacrificing the most, who are losing the most.

And we see that, uh, here in New South Wales, but across the country.

I mean, there's not a demographic or a postcode in Australia that's not touched by gambling harm, it needs to be said.

But recent figures just published here in New South Wales show that Fairfield Local Government Area, which is, is the most socially disadvantaged council area in New South Wales, just in three months, an average of almost $1,000 was lost on poker machines per person in that local government area.

We, we calculate that by the end of this year, that'll be over $4,000 on average per adult in Fairfield, which is the poorest local government area.

It's First Nations communities that are paying the most.

It affects p- people and their families.

But Reverend Stu, what about the argument that these publicans, uh, will, will give you that we donate so much money back into the community with sponsorship of sports teams, uh, charities, that sort of thing? We give, we give, we give, and it's thanks to the machines that give us that revenue.

Well, look, I am a minister, so I have to be careful, but I call BS on that.

I mean, that's just rubbish because, uh, there's only a tiny fraction of money that clubs, for example, earn that goes back to the community in club grants, and much of that goes back into professional sporting bodies.

Look, pubs and clubs, they, they play a critical role in our community.

They're those third places, third spaces that we gather and we connect with family, with friends.

And as you said in your opening, nothing good happens socially in a pokies den, particularly in the early hours of the morning.

It's very socially isolating.

But do you think surreptitiously, or maybe not so surreptitiously, that the gambling institutions are trying to get kids at a young age like the tobacco industry used to do?