AIATSIS seminar series 2008 

 
 

Matthew Stevens presents 'Betting on the evidence: The case of gambling-related problems among the Indigenous population of the NT', on Monday 1 September.

Two recent Northern Territory government reports, The Little Children are Sacred Report and the NTG Intergenerational Report, have drawn attention to the social impacts of gambling, an activity that is generally grouped along with the consumption of alcohol, drugs and pornography as intrinsically harmful.

While these reports recommend education and improved access to counselling services, there is little evidence with which to either justify or design gambling-specific policies for the Indigenous population.

Two recent national surveys of Indigenous people reported high levels of gambling-related problems in all states and territories, but particularly in the Northern Territory and remote parts of Queensland. Data from these surveys was analysed in order to identify demographic and socio-cultural correlates of reported gambling problems for the Indigenous population of the Northern Territory.

The results of this analysis constitute a first step in filling the evidence gap in gambling policy for the Indigenous population.

By identifying the factors associated with reported gambling problems, the analysis will provide a descriptive base from which the implications for informed policy development will be discussed.

Matthew Stevens is a research fellow with CDU’s School for Social and Policy Research.

This seminar takes place on Monday 1 September:

When: 11:30am - Australian Central Standard Time (Darwin, CDU and Alice Springs Campuses); 12:00pm - Australian Eastern Standard Time (Canberra, AIATSIS); 10:00am - Australian Western Standard Time (Broome, Notre Dame).

Where: Live from CDU’s Casuarina campus, Mal Nairn auditorium - Red building 7.1; video-conference to the Higher Education building, CDU’s Alice Springs campus, University of Notre Dame, Broome AIATSIS Canberra.