Horse and greyhound racing, pokies and pubs: these are some of the interests underwriting Lifeline's mental health awareness work
As one of Australia's most visible mental health awareness charities, Lifeline Australia has long provided a crisis phone line service and suicide awareness campaigns, along with counselling services for gambling addiction.
Yet Lifeline has refused to comment on their acceptance of significant donations from organisations that profit from gambling and animal racing, after accepting funds for years from Western Australia's horse and greyhound racing regulator, and Woolworths Group, a corporation with interests in over 300 hotels across Australia and pokie machines in the thousands.
Lifeline's website provides basic information on problem gambling—listed as one of the many issues Lifeline receives calls about from vulnerable members of the Australian community—characterising gambling as "fun". Within the information provided by Lifeline, pokies and racing are listed as forms of gambling that can lead to addiction.
"Pokies, lotto, scratchies, card games, racing, and other forms of betting are forms of gambling prominent in Australia," reads the introduction to Lifeline's resources on gambling addiction. "Gambling is fun to do from time to time, but for others it can get out of hand and cause distress and financial problems."
Woolworths Group has a 75% stake in ALH Group, a corporation that operates 328 hotels across the country, and holds 12,000 pokie machine licences. Woolworths Group "recognises that problem gambling is a serious community issue", according to the corporation’s 2019 Sustainability Report, listing one of the steps the company has taken to “enhance its responsible gaming practices” as supporting local communities through charities.
Woolworths faced allegations last year of supplying gaming patrons with free alcohol at several of their hotels in order to keep them playing pokie machines, according to reportage by the ABC.
Despite assisting people across Australia living with an addiction to gambling, Lifeline Australia's explanation of its corporate partnership with Woolworths Group does not disclose the corporation’s gambling, alcohol and hotel interests, and instead focuses solely on the corporation's supermarket operations. “Woolworths is Australia’s largest supermarket chain,” the text reads. “Woolworths prides itself on working closely with Australian growers and farmers to ensure the best products are available to customers...This makes Woolworths Australia’s Fresh Food People.”
Contacted for comment, Lifeline Australia refused to comment on its partnership with Woolworths Group and the potential impacts of Woolworth’s gaming interests on vulnerable individuals.
A page from Lifeline Australia’s website, outlining the charity’s relationship with the Woolworths Group. (Source: Lifeline Australia)
Over the past 5 years, Lifeline Western Australia has accepted $200,000 in donations from Racing and Wagering Western Australia, the regulator that oversees Western Australia's animal racing industry, which is comprised of horse and greyhound racing.
The $200,000 was gifted to Lifeline by Community TAB, the branch of Racing and Wagering Western Australia that oversees the allocation of sponsorships to community organisations. Yet according to information published by Community TAB in November 2018, the organisation's mission is not just to support the Western Australian community through charity, but to "invest profits [back] into supporting and growing WA's racing industry".
The "TAB" brand is associated with the TAB online betting service—owned by Tabcorp Holdings Limited—which enables betting on horse and greyhound races across Australia. Tabcorp has corporate agreements in place with greyhound racing clubs across Australia, with one greyhound club, Greyhound Racing South Australia, allowing the corporation to influence their hot weather animal welfare policies, which differ on the basis of whether races affected by extreme heat are open or closed to betting through TAB. Tabcorp Holdings Limited also holds ownership of Sky Racing, the channel that televises greyhound racing.
In the first 37 days of this year, greyhounds made to race by their owners in Western Australia sustained 90 injuries at the state's dog racetracks, a figure that includes several broken legs, and 6 dogs presenting with vomiting after races.
Despite Racing and Wagering Western Australia's involvement in the gambling and animal racing industries, Lifeline Western Australia refused to address questions regarding the increased risk of harm to mental health that can arise from gambling and consequent debt, and would not comment on animal welfare concerns.
The Chief Executive Officer of Lifeline Western Australia, Lorna MacGregor (R), accepting a check from Racing and Wagering Western Australia at a Lifeline charity event in November 2019. (Instagram: Community TAB)
The Chief Executive Officer of Lifeline Western Australia, Lorna MacGregor—who also holds a position as a Board Director at the Western Australia Association for Mental Health—refused to acknowledge a series of questions regarding the branch’s decision to accept funds from the animal racing industry, and would not confirm if the mental health charity had sought any assurances regarding animal welfare from Racing and Wagering Western Australia before accepting donations from the racing regulator.
In a brief statement, MacGregor instead promoted the operations of Community TAB: "Community TAB is the community partnerships arm of Racing and Wagering WA, and is responsible for upholding its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.”
“Community TAB has supported the good work of volunteers, sporting groups, and community organisations across WA for many years, and Lifeline WA is appreciative of the partnership we have had with them."
"The support from Community TAB has enabled Lifeline WA to train more telephone crisis volunteers, answer more calls for help, and continue our essential work at the front line of suicide prevention."
Lifeline Australia’s national office did not respond to three attempts to seek comment on the charity’s acceptance of funding from Racing and Wagering Western Australia.
The CEO of Lifeline Western Australia, Lorna MacGregor, (L) with the Governer of Western Australia and Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Kim Beazley AC. (Facebook: Lifeline Western Australia)
Representatives of Lifeline have previously shown public disregard for animal welfare within Australian dog racing, in the wake of investigations exposing extensive animal cruelty within the industry.
In an interview granted to a regional newspaper based in New South Wales, the Western Advocate, in August 2016, the Executive Officer of the Central West Lifeline branch, Alex Ferguson, glossed over animal cruelty that had been recently exposed in making public his support for the greyhound racing industry.
Ferguson’s comments were made in the wake of the announcement of a dog racing ban in New South Wales, initiated by the New South Wales Premier at the time, Mike Baird. The decision to implement a ban was grounded in a comprehensive investigation and report, published in 2015, that detailed live-baiting practices within the greyhound racing industry and mass graves containing greyhounds.
“Forget the right or wrong, or the cruelty [to animals], it’s the process that’s wrong,” Ferguson told the Western Advocate. “It was terminated by decree on very doubtful grounds and a report that is being questioned.”
Ferguson went on to state there would be a direct correlation between the greyhound racing ban and increased suicide rates. “I expect people to commit suicide from this, you’ve wrecked whole families,” he told the newspaper.
The Chief Executive Officer of Lifeline Australia, Peter Shmigel, wrote a letter of response to the Western Advocate denying Ferguson’s asserted link between the greyhound racing ban and suicide, published 9 days later. By that time, Ferguson’s public comments had already been seized upon and promoted on Facebook by the pro-greyhound racing group the NSW Greyhound Racing Alliance, who campaigned extensively against the dog racing ban in New South Wales.
The greyhound racing ban in New South Wales was later reversed by Premier Baird after sustained pressure from government, Australian media outlets and racing industry representatives.