Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has journalists in every state and territory. Sign up here to get it by email, or here to forward it to a friend. Today's is written by ACM editorial trainee Millie Costigan.
The most faithful depiction of the Melbourne Cup has to be the episode of Kath and Kim where the mother-daughter pair attend the races, become absolutely legless, make a vow to "meet at the portaloos", vomit spectacularly and get carrot stuck in their fascinators.
The race that stops a nation may attract high fliers with $1000+ entry fees to the luxury marquees, but for the average folk in Victoria, it's a welcome long weekend at the beginning of the warmer months, and an opportunity to get together with friends. For the rest of the nation it might equal a half hour break in a busy afternoon of work.
For some, it's a chance to bet on a horse race where six horses have died since 2013.
Gambling is a troubling problem for our country, estimates suggest that Australians lost approximately $25 billion on legal forms of gambling in 2018-19, representing the largest per capita losses in the world.
A record $221.6 million was wagered across Australia on the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
The economic impact of the Melbourne Cup on the Victorian economy is stunning. In 2018, the economic return to the state was $447.6 million. Of that figure, $62.9 million was spent on retail fashion and grooming, and $29.26 million on food and beverage.
I spoke to a milliner who said 80 per cent of her income is derived directly from Melbourne Cup week.
So how to balance the ethical concerns with the reality that this event employs over 20,000 staff and contributes millions to an economy still recovering from a pandemic downturn? It's for each of us to decide.
Sadly the cup, like other major holidays, is usually accompanied by a spike in family violence, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The Melbourne Cup isn't going anywhere, and perhaps the focus on the Cup is misplaced - Australia has an entrenched cultural problem surrounding drinking and gambling that needs to be addressed first and foremost.
While for me, it's nup to the Cup, a future with a closer watchdog on the racing industry and a cultural shift away from gambling isn't beyond our reach.
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