DEAR News Of The Area,

LAST week my granddaughters brought out their new Australian version of Monopoly for the first time.

It was not long for us to get down to the base line.

Friendly relationships turned quickly into competition and selfishness.

Cooperation went out the door.

I was the banker, just observing the whole thing and reading the rules.

This is how we play the game of life.

At the roll of the dice, people turn into winners and losers.

Born into wealth or by a combination of hard work and luck, some become landlords.

Some become tenants (often hard working) and if you really have bad trauma, homeless folk.

Our governments are the bankers with the rulebook.

With the help of their wealthy winning friends, they keep making the rules easier on the winners and harder on the renters and the homeless.

Let’s step back and look at this game we are all part of.

Is there perhaps a better way?

Is it possible that all are looked after with tenant protection, and affordable housing given priority to investment opportunities?

How could homelessness be better addressed?

My partner said ‘scrap the Monopoly, and buy some ethical games for the kids’.

I feel it is better to let them play and point out what this type of system creates.

How does it make us really feel about our brothers and sisters sitting at the table with us?

To ask them: is this fair?

Let’s reinvent the game, and start in our home towns!

Regards,
Louise CRANNY,
Bellingen.