Staff at pubs owned by supermarket giant Woolworths have been ordered to record and share personal information about gamblers in an effort to keep them in gaming rooms longer and lose more money on poker machines. Fairfax reports that two former staff took screenshots of a Google Drive folder shared between 400 pubs owned by Woolworths subsidiary ALH Group, sharing details of the drive with independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie. In a video interview with Wilkie’s office, one of the former employees detailed how staff recorded private information about high-turnover gamblers into a shared file, known as the “high roller register”, so other staff could “easily strike up a conversation with them and build rapport really quickly”. Information such as “what time they normally come in, the teams they barrack for” and how much money they gamble were recorded, in order to “get people to stay for as long as possible, to put as much money into the machines as possible”. Wilkie will speak on the matter in Parliament today, while an ALH spokesperson told Fairfax “we take our responsibilities in providing responsible service of gaming and alcohol most seriously”.

Victoria Police assistant commissioner for professional standards Brett Guerin has resigned after being exposed as the person behind several social media accounts that regularly posted racist, misogynist and sexually graphic comments. Guerin’s online pseudonym, “Vernon Demerest” – a reference to a character from 1970 movie Airport – made references to “cheating dagoes” and “third world dullards”, and made sexually explicit comments about former chief commissioner Christine Nixon. Chief commissioner Graham Ashton said he was “at a loss to explain” Guerin’s “baffling behaviour”. The Age reports that Guerin delivered racist tirades in front of other officers at least twice before.

In more news about terrible men, comedian Tim Ferguson has admitted to writing a series of abusive letters to a TV critic in 1990. Writing for News Corp, reporter Candace Sutton detailed how Ferguson harassed her over several months after she briefly referenced him in a column for The Sun-Herald, by faxing her obscene drawings and writing that he hoped she contracted “leukaemia” and “breast cancer”. Sutton also said neither Fairfax nor ABC management responded adequately when she complained. At the time, Ferguson was a member of comedy trio the Doug Anthony Allstars, whose other members, TV host Paul McDermott and ABC radio host Richard Fidler, said they “were only made aware of the letter and drawings after Tim had sent them”. In a statement, Ferguson said he “apologises unreservedly”.

And sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins has voiced concern over cases of women who complain about sexual harassment and assault having their identities publicly revealed. Speaking to ABC radio, Jenkins said while phenomena such as the #MeToo movement were encouraging, “if media reporting is not helpful, that it will have the opposite effect, and it will deter people from making a complaint”. Jenkins highlighted the naming by The Weekend Australian of the Western Australian woman who submitted a formal complaint of sexual harassment against Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce.